The goverment plans to replace the team presently in charge of the Sh850 billion Konza City.
According to proposed Konza Technopolis Development Authority Bill, 2013, President Uhuru Kenyatta will be free to replace career banker John Ngumi once the Bill is passed into law.
Ngumi was appointed as the Konza Technopolis Development Authority chairman in December last year. The bill also seeks to replace all directors appointed during the past regime.
“All directors of KOTDA in office on the appointed day shall cease to be such directors unless otherwise appointed as directors pursuant to the provisions of section 8,” provides the draft Bill.
Apart from the chairman who was appointed by the President, the other directors were appointed by former Information and Communications minister Samuel Poghisio.
According to the Bill, other members of the new board will include Information Technology and Communications Principal Secretary Joseph Tiampaty and his National Treasury counterpart Kamau Thugge.
Others will be Makueni county governor Kivutha Kibwana, a representative from the Architectural Association of Kenya and four persons, not being public officers, who will be appointed by the information technology and communications Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i.
Machakos and Makueni counties, whose leaders have been lobbying to have an active role in running the Konza city, are not mentioned in the Bill.
The new authority will have immense powers including deciding which investors or businesspersons will be allowed to operate in Konza city.
It will also be in charge of developing and determining the criteria on the basis on which land will be allocated to investors and any other users.
The government is planning to exempt the proposed Konza Technopolis from most of the taxes. The Bill says the authority shall be exempt from all existing and future taxes and duties payable under the Kenyan laws.
"Investors will also be exempted from paying income tax for the first ten years", states the Bill. The investors will also be exempted from payment of Value Added Tax, customs duties on any goods or services imported for the purpose of construction of the city and also Exemption for acquiring a Single Business Permit from the County Government.
Any document executed by the authority for which stamp duty is payable including lease granted by the authority, shall be exempt from any stamp duty under the Stamp Duty Act.
The authority will also be exempted from provisions of several other Acts. They include the provisions of the State Corporations Act, the Urban Areas and Cities Act and the Physical Planning Act. The authority will be headed by a presidential appointee as chairman.
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