Kenya searches for tractor manufacturing partner

Kenya is shopping for an established tractor maker to partner it in a venture that will yield the first locally manufactured heavy duty tractors by the end of 2007. The local manufacture of tractors is considered a key ingredient to boosting agriculture production.

The government is positioning the idle Numeric Machining Complex (NMC) plant in Nairobi to make tractors for local use and for export within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region. The ministry of trade and industry recently held a workshop with industrial giants East Africa Breweries, Coca Cola, Magadi Soda and others to map out strategies for strengthening the Numeric Machining Complex.

The meeting followed a recommendation by the ministry of finance that funds should be injected into NMC, saying it had a high potential for the mass production of metallic components. Trade and Industry minister Mukhisa Kituyi recently announced that the government was keen to revive the NMC car manufacturing plant and to use it to produce tractors and industrial machines.

If NMC is revived, Kenya could be the first country in East and Central Africa to manufacture tractors. NMC general manager Michael Thubi declined to say which international tractor maker the government was in talks, but speculation is that it a conglomerate from India. NMC was started as a car project in the 1980s but was unsuccessful. It is owned by Kenya Railways, the University of Nairobi and the government, which owns minority shares. The plant currently manufactures spare parts for Peugeot 404 cars commonly used as taxis. The plant also makes parts for industrial machines for various corporate clients.

Business Day