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{
    "id": 424007,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/424007/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 71,
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    "content": "investment that is referred to here systematically, the Government investing in infrastructure and the so-called donors bringing in the money for doing the actual investment, I do not think that the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) is being very imaginative. Now that we have a proper public-private partnership law in this country, it should be used in all Government corporations that are involved in development. If the public-private partnership is properly financed – not the Anglo Leasing type – it can be very cost-effective in our country to invest in such projects like GDC, which as you see, cost trillions and trillions of shillings to get going. But in the end, if you invest today, the outcome or benefits are tremendous. Not only will you get the carbon credits and so on, but the cost of energy consumption will go down drastically. The availability will be there and Kenya will be part and parcel of those countries in the world which are in the forefront of not only generating and using cost-effective energy, but also environmentally friendly when you move steadily to geothermal and solar in providing energy to our people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would request the Committee on Energy, Roads and Transportation to maybe call the GDC to a Committee hearing and discuss this Report with them and maybe put to them: “Please, can you explore some other modes of investment that are good for this country?” Mr. Speaker, Sir, finally, if you read the history of several countries which have made it rather fast in development, like Malaysia, Singapore, Korea and so on, which we always quote, you will find that when they have an initiative like this, the government must be stable and professional. But when you start something like this and every now and again change the board of directors or chairman – somebody is just settling down in the office and they are going away – they go away with a collective memory, contacts that they have made with investors and goodwill that they have built. This is why our country does not go far. We are always starting and restarting, to the extent that sometimes, I wonder whether when we were developing Vision 2030, we also thought very carefully, as the Government, in terms of--- The GDC is a perfect example. When I look at the list of the board of directors, chairman and so on, if the Committee was to go back there today, it will find a completely different story. They may have to ask the new board to tell them the story again. When an investor comes again in a big thing like this, where billions of shillings are involved and keeps on meeting new people on a daily basis, he will just say: “These people are not serious.” He will go and invest in Botswana. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to support."
}