Israel is helping to build Kenya’s first technological hub in the new city of Konza, which will be situated outside Nairobi. This £10.9 billion project will feature a science and business park, convention centre, shopping malls, hotels and international schools. The new city will span 5,000 acres of land.
The Israeli city of Tel Aviv, dubbed the ‘start-up city’, will host Kenyan entrepreneurs and developers meeting Israeli experts in order to plan the infrastracture of the project. The city plans to host seminars with local start-ups, in coordination with Tel Aviv Global, to foster further collaboration between Kenya and Israel.
The city is expected to be completed in 2019, with the first stage seeing 17,000 jobs being created and 30,000 residents moving in. It is estimated that as many as 200,000 jobs will be created by the project by 2030.
The alliance between Kenya and Israel is part of a growing trend of closer ties between Israel and African countries. Israeli planning company AlephBet has signed a deal with Tiret – Ethiopia’s largest construction group. The Israeli company will build modern and technologically-advanced homes in Ethiopia, as part of a government plan to build 2.4 million homes in the next five years. AlephBet has previously helped the South Sudanese government to build a £113 million modern dairy project, consisting of five dairy farms.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Kenya in July during a trip to Africa to strengthen relations with the continent. He is the first ruling Israeli prime minister to visit Kenya.
