Kenya’s government seeks private sector support to build Africa’s biggest centre at Bomas

The Bomas of Kenya Conferencing centre - Amphitheatre.[PHOTO:Grace Ngige/STANDARD]

NAIROBI, KENYA: Retail and corporate investors stand to reap more returns as the Government seeks financing for a multi-billion international convention centre at the Bomas of Kenya.

This comes as Nairobi tries to breathe new life into its business and conference tourism facilities - targeting a larger share of the multi-billion dollar sector currently dominated by Cape Town and Johannesburg - both in South Africa.

"We have kicked off the process and the first step is finding the transaction adviser who will help us develop a financing model because government alone cannot execute this project," said Tourism Principal Secretary Ibrahim Mohamed.

The planned convention centre is set to be the biggest in Africa with a 10,000 sq metre exhibition hall and a convention hall with a capacity to hold 15,000 delegates. Sandton Convention Centre in South Africa that was the venue of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development is the continent's biggest with the convention centre accommodating 3,000 people. Its multipurpose pavilion hosts more than 4,000 people.

Bomas of Kenya has a capacity of 2,500 delegates and this is going to be the first and largest face-lift at the facility since its inception by the Government in 1971.

"We have brisk business from listed companies that hold their annual general meetings at our premises as well as political parties but with the new facility, we shall be better placed to take a big chunk of the business and conference tourism that comes to Africa," stated Bomas Kenya General Manager Quresh Ahmed.

Initially, the plan was to be executed by the Government since the Bomas of Kenya is State-owned, but recent financial constraints have forced the Government to review development, ownership and management formulas for the ambitious project.

The Government is now looking at the capital markets and partnerships with private sector developers to help realise the multi-billion project.

"Possible avenues for financing that we are looking for are asset backed securities and real estate trusts and we hope to take the private public partnership further and enable ordinary Kenyans own a piece of this infrastructure," stated Julius Muia, an official at the Vision 2030 secretariat which is also the custodian of the project.

PROJECT BIDS

The Government is further exploring ownership and leasing options for the project which will see the central government, Nairobi County and the private sector have a stake in the new facility. Hoteliers, commercial banks, and retail chains will also be invited to submit bids to establish these facilities on 50 acres around the convention centre to provide support services.

The new facility will also include an underground tunnel that will go beneath Langata Road into the Nairobi National Park. "We want someone to come up and put a seven star hotel in the premises because there will be demand for these services and all other interested service providers," stated Ahmed.

Nairobi is currently ranked the second best business convention destination in Africa, with business tourism netting more than Sh3.59 billion annually in revenues. South Africa, which leads in Africa as a destination for business travel, rakes in more than R18 billion (about Sh189 billion) annually.

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