Konza Technopolis has started producing textiles, with its first industrial investor moving from building its plant to making fabric for everyday clothing, as the Machakos County tech city tries to show that it can deliver factory jobs and not just office blocks.

The investor, Lucky DJX, is operating in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) set up inside Konza's Special Economic Zone. Technopolis Development Authority chief executive John Paul Okwiri said the first two factories are in place and more are planned.

The 10,000-job target

"The current factory has been able to, and has planned to, recruit up to 10,000 people to work in the zone," Okwiri told TV47. The Standard reports that Konza is targeting 10,000 jobs as its first industrial investors start textile production.

Both outlets stress that the figure is a target rather than a count of jobs already created. How close Konza gets will depend on how many factories open, how big they are and how quickly production ramps up.

Okwiri described the EPZ as "an industrial park that will have many factories, manufacturing factories for export." The authority says its early focus is textiles, electronics and solar products and accessories, and it expects further investment in electronics and glass production. A solar manufacturer, Coracias Solar, already operates a facility at the site.

Plug-and-play infrastructure

Konza has built about 40 kilometres of internal roads, a power distribution network, water treatment facilities and a wastewater reclamation system for the first phase, meaning investors do not have to put up their own utilities.

Engineer Vincent Oyola, who supports the technopolis's daily operations, said power arrives at a 66-kilovolt station and is stepped down to 11 kilovolts for distribution, with every investor plot having its own connection point. "So once an investor buys a parcel, it is plug-and-play," he said, adding that the system has enough capacity to meet the load demand of the entire first phase.

Who else benefits

Officials say the factories should also create business for transporters, food vendors and suppliers of raw materials, packaging, components and maintenance services, as well as for communities living around the city. Local firms that can meet manufacturers' standards on quality, price, reliability and delivery will be best placed to win supply contracts.

The textile launch comes as Konza also tries to link university research with production through the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology on site. Matching training to what manufacturers need is likely to determine how many young Kenyans can take up the new jobs.

Konza, launched more than a decade ago as Kenya's flagship smart city, has long faced criticism over slow progress. A recent Business Daily column put the number of direct jobs created in its first phase at more than 3,500, with about 30 companies operating on site.

Photos: The Standard; Capital FM. Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.