Rivatex to get Sh500m for expansion, jobs

 

The government will give Rivatex Textile Company in Eldoret Sh500 million additional funding for expansion and modernisation of the state-owned firm.

Jared Ichwara, who is the director of planning in the state department of industrialisation, said the first phase of funding of more than Sh5 billion had revived the firm with new equipment.

The extra Sh500 million has been factored into the budget to be tabled in Parliament.

Ichwara said the company has created more than 3,000 direct jobs and further expansion will boost performance of the company.

Ichwara was speaking at Rivatex in Eldoret during a monitoring and evaluation tour by the Vision 2030 delivery secretariat. It was led by Ken Muige, who is director general of the Kenya Vision 2030. Also present was  Rivatex CEO Prof Thomas Kipkurgat.

“The government has fully supported Rivatex through funding to modernise the company. We now have more than 30,000 people who come to Rivatex to buy fabrics for use out there," Ichwara said.

He said more than 4,000 farmers were also being supported to plant cotton. They have been given seeds, pesticides and other inputs and support.

Ichwara said the Sh5oo million will enable the  county do more value addition and continue modernisation.  It will produce uniforms for the military and institutions as part of the Buy Kenya Build Kenya initiative.

He said since 2008, the Vision 2030 initiative had contributed about 9.2 per cent growth to the manufacturing sector by last year. By now it would be doing doing 15 per cent were it not for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Modernisation of Rivatex was 80 per cent done and by the end of next year it will be completed.

CEO Kipkurgat said the firm’s production had increased tremendously and it was processing more than 30,000 metres of fabric per day, compared to 10,000 metres a few years ago.

“We are very excited with the progress we have made with support from the President and the entire government," Kipkurgat said, 

Muige said the Vision 2030 initiative aims to make the country a newly industrialised nation and this would be achieved through enhanced manufacturing, creating employment and training under TVET.

He said Rivatex has massive capacity and is currently one of the largest in Africa. The director said the revival of Rivatex would also help revive cotton farming that had collapsed.

“We want to save the more than Sh20 billion, which we use to import material for textiles because one of the ways to grow our country is to stop sending money out there. We can produce the raw material we require locally," Muige said.

He urged Kenyans to adopt the Buy Kenyan Build Kenya initiative through purchase of locally manufactured products and from  Rivatex and other local companies.

We have to take pride in what is ours even if it’s not perfect. What we are doing is a good start as a country as we expand the manufacturing sector,” he said.    BY  THE  STAR