Venue: KICC, Nairobi – Kenya
Dates: 27 April – 29 April , 2014
Timing: 10 AM TO 06 PM
Business Visitors Only.
Exhibitors from over 22 countries and visitors from 11 African and 12 other countries have made Autoexpo the most prolific automobile, spares and accessories trade exhibition in Kenya and one of the largest fairs in Africa.
Kenya firms dominate Africa travel awards
Kenyan companies dominated this year’s Africa World Travel Awards held on Wednesday, raising the profile of the country as the region’s tourist hot spot.
Serena Hotel Group, Kenya Tourism Board, Kenya Airways and Maasai Mara were some of the companies that were feted in the glamorous evening event held in Nairobi.
The awards dubbed ‘The Oscars of the travel industry’ attracted 100 players in the hospitality industry and emerged at a time when Kenya’s tourism sector is battling challenges including security in the wake of the Westgate terror attack.
The sector is also reeling from introduction of a value added or sales tax last month that sent retail price of various items higher and players warn it could affect their prospects.
Kenya's market regulator set to license futures exchange operators
Kenya is processing applications for licences to operate derivatives exchanges from both local and foreign firms, the capital markets regulator said on Tuesday, as Nairobi inches towards its goal of becoming an international financial centre.
Paul Muthaura, acting chief executive of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), told Reuters after a media briefing that such exchanges were vital to that plan, but he did not say when operators would be chosen nor when exchanges would open.
Kenya launches construction of regional railway line
Kenya has launched construction of a $5.2 billion railway line which when completed will link Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.
The 1,250-kilometre-long railway will be constructed with funding from China and will initially cover the Mombasa to Nairobi route.
The initial line is expected to be completed by 2017, with further extensions to Uganda, eastern DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan to follow.
The railway line is expected to boost Kenya’s status as a regional economic hub and also promote economic integration of the East African Community (EAC) through the sharing of infrastructure facilities among member states.
In November 2012, East African heads of state met under the theme “deepening the EAC integration process through the development of efficient infrastructure systems to support trade and industrialisation”.
Kenya starts work on $650 million airport expansion
Kenya began work on a $653 million expansion of the capital's main airport on Tuesday, the second large-scale infrastructure project it has launched in a week aimed at boosting trade and cementing its status as a regional commercial hub.
The new terminal will be able to handle 20 million passengers when completed, three times the existing passenger flow through the airport, whose arrivals hall was gutted by a massive blaze in August.
Multibillion dollar Beira oil pipeline to Botswana
Mining Oil and Gas Services (MOGS), a South African-based company, intends to construct a multibillion-dollar fuel pipeline linking Mozambique (from Beira) and three Southern African countries through Zimbabwe including Botswana. This was recently reported by Zimbabwean publication The Herald.
MOGS is a black-owned company that focuses on providing various products and services to the mining, oil and gas services industry in South Africa and neighbouring countries through its specialist subsidiaries.
The Herald reported that the proposed pipeline will start in Beira and run through Zimbabwe in Harare and Bulawayo. From Bulawayo, it will run south-west to Botswana and run north through Zambia to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Uhuru launches construction of new JKIA terminal
President Kenyatta said that the intention is to make JKIA the most convenient, comfortable and secure airport in Africa.
“The construction of this new Greenfield Terminal with a capacity to handle more than 20 million passengers and eventually a second runway that is planned for this airport, will enable Kenya attain her National Vision 2030 aspirations to be a middle income country,” he explained.
Kenya to get oil know-how from Arabian states
PRESIDENT Uhuru has said Kenya will rely on Arab countries to manage the newly discovered oil in Turkana county. Addressing the Third Africa-Arab Summit in Kuwait city on Wednesday, Uhuru said his government wants oil to be beneficial to Kenya and not a curse as has been witnessed in some countries.
He said Kenya is already reaching out to the region on how to extract the mineral without causing conflict. "We intend to borrow a lot and rely heavily on the brotherly generosity of Arab nations to get the knowhow and technology to conduct cost effective exploration and extraction of the resource," Uhuru said.
