multi-billion projects that never took shape in kenya 🇰🇪

The Pinnacle tower.
When completed, the skyscraper is expected to become the second tallest building in Africa after Egypt's Iconic Tower, and the third tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, at 70 stories and over 1,000 feet (300 m) in height.
The budgeted construction cost for the Pinnacle Towers is US$200 million. Of that, the developers contributed US$50 million and the balance was borrowed, from Afreximbank and some Kenyan banks. The main contractor is China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC). Commissioning of the building was expected in 2020.
The development consists of two adjacent towers. The shorter tower, at 46 floors will house the 257-room, five-star Upper Hill Hilton Hotel, the third Hilton franchise in Nairobi and the 50th on the African continent.[3] The taller tower, with 70 floors, will feature eleven floors of commercial office space, nine floors of upscale rental retail space, and 46 floors with 210 upscale 1, 2 and 3-bedroom, serviced residential apartments.
The development is a joint venture by Hass Petroleum an East African petroleum products distributor and the White Lotus Group, a Dubai-based investment firm.
A dispute has arisen over ownership of part of the land being used for construction.[11] The High Court has issued arrest warrants for the directors of White Lotus Projects, Poosapati Ramachandra Raju Sita and Mohamud Mahat Noor.[11] The dispute began when legal action was taken against Hass Petroleum by Ugandan tycoon James Mugoya and a trust formed by former United Arab Emirates leader Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
2. Palm Exotica.
standing at 370 metres compared to Pinnacle Tower’s 300 metres. The upcoming skyscraper dubbed ‘Palm Exotica’ will, therefore, stand out more than Upperhill’s 70-storeyed Pinnacle Tower which is still under construction.
The 61-storeyed Palm Exotica will be developed by New York and South Africa investors and Italian billionaire Franco Rosco.
The country’s National Environment Management Authority (Nema) has put the entire project on hold, claiming the project violates several of its clauses therefore construction cannot go on.
Nema Acting Director General, Mamo Mamo confirmed the report and said the project is not in conformity with the existing planning framework: Zoning plans, and physical planning laws and regulations, survey regulations and Coast foreshore reservations and stability.
The authority thus ordered the investors to either re-design the project to conform with existing planning framework or seek an alternative site.
Where it went wrong: The project was designed in 1971 to provide jobs to the Turkana people through fishing and fish processing for export. However, the Turkana are nomads with no history of fishing or eating fish. The plant was completed and operated for a few days, but was quickly shut down. The cost to operate the freezers and the demand for clean water in the desert were too high. It remains a “white elephant” in Kenya’s arid northwest.
Laptop/Tablet project.
The Laptop project to all pupils joining class 1 was a promising one since the initial phase of the project kicked up and more than 18000 tablets and laptops were distributed. The pupils were to be issued with laptops but that became too expensive and the government settled on learning tablets. The project was later canceled due to various issues including logistics from the laptop providers.
Dams Projects.
The dam projects was another very ambitious mega project under Jubilee administration as they came to power. The project was to see construction of Dams across the country including Itare Dam in Nakuru, Arror and Kimwarer Dams in Elgeyo Marakwet county and Thiba Dam in Central Kenya just to name a few. Only the Thiba dam was substantially build but others like Arror, Kimwarer and Itare all failed.
Standard Gauge railway Phase 3.
The standard G auge Railway was a sort of success for the administration after the building of the first and second phases. The administration however failed to build the third phase of the project from Naivasha to Kisumu. Upgrade of the old railway line from connection Nakuru and Kisumu was however given preference over another phase of Standard Gauge railway. Kenyans are however not satisfied with the project as its full potential has not been unleashed.

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