(MOMBASA, KENYA) – The Coast Development Authority has called on state corporations, private firms and community groups to adopt a unified coastal development agenda and invest in the region’s natural resources. The appeal was made as the authority showcased its main projects at the ASK Show in Mombasa.
CDA Board Chairman Mzee Mwinyi said the authority is promoting a new approach aimed at improving livelihoods across the six coastal counties by using each area’s unique economic strengths. He said Kwale offers opportunities in rice farming, livestock and citrus production, while Mombasa has tourism and potential for value addition factories. Kilifi holds promise in animal farming, coral and mineral exploration, Tana River in livestock, and Lamu in the blue economy.
Mwinyi urged state agencies and private firms to include the coastal agenda in their five year strategic plans. He said CDA’s largest development partner outside the national government is an Italian agency, through which the authority has built schools and an ICU and HDU block in Kilifi County. The agency is also funding construction of an 11.2 kilometre road.
Mwinyi identified aquaculture and mariculture as the lowest hanging fruit for coastal communities. He referred to the World Bank funded Kenya Marine and Fisheries Socio Economic Development programme, which channelled nearly KES 10 billion ($77.8 million / £60.7 million) into the region from 2017. A new initiative worth KES 32 billion ($249 million / £194 million), three times that amount, is set to focus on aquaculture projects. He urged community groups to move beyond hiring tents and chairs and instead invest in fisheries ventures to access the funding.
CDA Acting Managing Director Dr Mwanasiti Bendera said the authority is a state corporation under the Ministry of East Africa, Arid and Semi Arid Lands and Regional Development. She said CDA was exhibiting projects on drought mitigation, water security and social development in line with this year’s ASK Show theme.
Bendera cited the Malindi Integrated Social Health Development Programme, under which CDA has built more than 24 classrooms and three junior school science laboratories across five schools. The authority supported Ngomeni Secondary School with a 200 student dining hall and a dormitory, and helped establish an eight bed ICU and HDU with a theatre in Kilifi County.
The authority is also constructing the 12 kilometre Mjanaheri Ngomeni Road, linking a fishing village, a satellite station and a naval base to wider government services.
Bendera said CDA has partnered with youth and women’s groups, including Generation Kenya, which has trained 30,000 young people in tailoring and other skills, and Riki Bags, a youth led enterprise turning waste into products.