Narendra Raval’s Devki Group has opened its multi-billion steel mill factory. The factory is located in Kwale County.
The factory has the capacity to produce half a million tonnes of steel annually and will be connected to the metre-gauge railway, lowering transport costs to other parts of Kenya and the region.
“We will manufacture steel from iron ore,” Raval said. The factory is expected to generate 1,500 direct and 9,000 indirect jobs.
The factory has been billed as the second biggest in Africa after a similar factory in South Africa.
“We chose Samburu in Kinango constituency because it is one of the poorest places in the country,” he said.
“Put your money and your heart here and Kenya will give you a better return and Kenya will be number one in Africa in ten years’ time.”
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Devki projects that its regional payroll count will hit 7,000 employees with completion of the Kwale plant.
In August 2022, Kenya Railways announced that it had started doing trial runs of trains carrying 750 tonnes of locally manufactured steel billets from the Kwale factory to Devki’s plant in Athi River.
This followed the completion the construction of the 2.2 km MGR siding linking the new steel plant to our MGR main line.
The new steel plant has capacity to produce steel products straight from iron ore to finished products such as wire rolls, steel bars and billets.
“We plan to move over 35,000 tonnes of products from the new steel plant to Athi River, Ruiru, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu; which translates to 47 trains monthly,” said Kenya Railways.