Kenya has, for the first time, been edged out by neighbouring Tanzania as the largest contributor to East Africa’s total value of infrastructure projects. 

Such projects usually pave the way for the growth of urban centres and housing projects. 

The latest Deloitte’s Africa Report Construction Trends puts the value of 51 mega infrastructure projects in Tanzania last year at $60.3 billion (Sh6.1 trillion) or 41.2 per cent of the region’s total project value.  

In contrast, Kenya’s 51 projects accounted for only $36 billion (Sh3.64 trillion) or 24.6 per cent of the region’s total project value during the period, says Mahendra Dedasaniya, Director and Deloitte Africa’s infrastructure and capital projects leader.

Kenya and Tanzania have been competing over economic and logistic issues, with traders from both countries rivalling each other.  

Despite both countries being part of the East African Community, border checks and conflicts have resulted in occasional unrest and protests along the border.

East Africa saw a rise in the total number of construction projects by 30.9 per cent between 2018 and 2019.  Continent-wise, the East African region last year also recorded the highest number of projects, with Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda accounting for 40.3 per cent of projects  and 29.5 per cent of dollar values. 

In the previous year, the total number of projects in East Africa had risen by 96 per cent between 2017 and 2018, with high value projects such as Kenya’s Konza Technology Park and Tanzania’s Bagamoyo mega port boosting the region’s infrastructure agenda.

In 2018, Kenya topped with 41 projects in East Africa valued at $38.2 million (Sh3.9 trillion), followed by Ethiopia with 38 projects valued at $19.1 million (Sh1.9 trillion). 

“Much of the value is to large infrastructure projects such as Phase II of the Kenya Standard Gauge Railway Project and Tanzania’s new Likong’o-Mchinga LNG plant worth $30 billion (Sh3 trillion),” says Dedasaniya. 

The plant has been identified as the most valuable project in the region. The report also shows that most projects in East Africa are still largely government-owned (79.1 per cent), while private domestic companies own just 6.6 per cent of the projects.