Kenya aviation news update – Kenya Airways once again takes lead in ‘Plant a Future’

KENYA AIRWAYS PARTICIPATES IN ‘PLANT A FUTURE’ PROJECT LAST WEEKEND

Staff and friends of Kenya Airways are involved this weekend in the planting of 250.000 tree seedlings as part of their annual ‘Plant a Future’ tree planting day at the Ngong Hills, outside the capital Nairobi. The Pride of Africa has been participating in this conservation event since 2007 and remains committed to play their part, alongside other leading commercial organizations and conservation groups, to help fund the exercise.

Forest cover in Kenya has shrunk to a lamentable 2 percent of the entire country and the Vision 2030 hopes to restore a further 8 percent of Kenya’s terrestrial area to forest cover, bringing it to a projected 10 percent overall.

Other stakeholders involved in this initiative included engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce which has used its “engineering expertise to reduce aircraft fuel burn by 70 per cent and noise by 75 per cent” to lessen the emission impact on the environment, The Coca-Cola franchise in Kenya, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the Ministry of Forestry, Kenya Forestry Services, the University of Nairobi’s Forestry Department, Rotaract Clubs from around Nairobi and the local community.

The ‘Plant-a-Future’ initiative was originally launched in April 2007 and has so far seen over 500,000 indigenous trees planted in the Ngong Hills Forest. This year, a further 250,000 trees have been planted bringing the total to 750,000 trees. The Ngong Forest ecosystem is also a crucial water tower for the capital city, which supports most of the rivers and springs that feed into Nairobi. It has suffered extensive damage in the last 1 ½ decades due to illegal logging, wild fires and encroachment, thereby compromising the water supply to city residents. In order to fully recover the Ngong Hills need a total of over 3 million newly planted trees but planting can only be done during the rainy season to ensure that the seedlings planted actually take root.

Well done Kenya Airways and everyone else participating and ‘donating’ a weekend to volunteer.

South Sudan news update – Local hotel group opens new property in Bor / Jonglei State

LOCALLY OWNED HOTEL GROUP SPREADS TO JONGLEI STATE

Over the weekend the ‘South Sudan Hotel’ was opened in the town of Bor, Jonglei State, adding facilities for visitors to the state and also spreading the wings of this locally owned hotel group. They already own and operate conventionally built hotels, i.e. not tents or prefabricated container units, in the Southern and Equatoria State capital Juba, but also in other state capitals like Wau, Malakal, Yambio. Additional hotels have been opened too in key trading towns of the Western Bahr-el-Ghazal state.

The hotel in Bor, under construction since last year, was officially opened by the state’s governor Juol Manyang in the presence of the business community, cultural leaders, security officials and senior politicians from state and central government. He welcomed the investment in Bor, inviting more business people to come and create infrastructure in state capitals like Bor but also across the states in key trading posts and smaller towns, where such services like hotels are in growing demand.

Bor will on May 16^th host the commemorations of the start of the ‘second’ civil war which started 28 years ago, when regular army units sent in from Khartoum mutinied against their commanders and orders from the regime of how to treat the local population who were opposed to the forced introduction of Sharia Law.

No website or phone contacts are presently available from the company for this and their other hotels.

Aviation news update – Egypt Air gets new B777-300ER as traffic levels rise again

EGYPT AIR GETTING BACK ON COURSE

A regular source at the Egypt Air Kampala office was excited over the weekend, telling news that the airline had just taken delivery of a 6^th brand new Boeing B777-300ER, which were ordered four years ago.

Instead of deferring delivery of the long range jet the airline took delivery via an international leasing company specialized in aircraft leases, an early indication that traffic levels have started to claw back, albeit slowly, to pre crisis levels.

Said the source: ‘We are happy to hear that we got a new aircraft. Here in Uganda we fly 3 times a week and we are always hoping that eventually we can go daily from Entebbe to Cairo. We are a Star Alliance member and our service levels are good, connections out of Cairo are growing to many new destinations. New modern aircraft also help us to compete favourably and Uganda is also an important market for air freight to and from Egypt. Finally the crisis is over and we are moving again so please tell the good news to everyone.’

Egypt Air flies into the region, also covering Kenya and Tanzania, although they recently halted their twice a week flight from Cairo to Juba. Traffic for MS came to a near standstill when Cairo was under curfew and crews and ground staff were unable to make it to the airport for their flights, but as the situation in Egypt has started to normalize so have traffic levels for Egypt Air.

Happy landings for the new ‘bird’, the crews and the passengers flying in the future on this latest B777.

East African news update – New EAC headquarters on course

EAC HEADQUARTERS ‘ON COURSE’

The construction of the new East African Community headquarters in Arusha, near its present location at the International Conference Centre, is reportedly on course, with staff excited about the prospects of leaving the array of rented accommodation and moving into one purpose built new complex.

The building is financed with a grant from Germany and will, when complete, also allow a further expansion of the East African Community beyond the present 5 member states. Southern Sudan, becoming independent on 09^th of July this year, has already indicated that they will apply for membership soon after becoming Africa’s youngest nation, and Ethiopia and Congo Dr are also reportedly mulling over a decision, still weighing the pro’s and con’s of joining Eastern Africa’s strongest trade block.

The EAC has promoted regional integration from the economy towards a political union too, and while much work is still to be done, discussions have advanced to the establishment of a single currency and the free flow of goods, services and people across the entire region without the trouble of having to cross national borders.

Expected to be ready by the last quarter of this year, the EAC will also then offer museum space where the history of the current, and the ‘original’ East African Community will be on display. Few know that the integration of East Africa under the first EAC, which collapsed in early 1977 due to political differences between members states and the meltdown back then in Uganda, was substantially more developed than for instance the European cooperation, with a full integration of postal, telephone, rail, harbour and air services. Hence the march towards a fully integrated East Africa has been warmly welcomed by supporters of a strong region, able to hold its own in terms of economic development, trading powers and tourism attractions.

In closing, it is also understood that negotiations with a range of foreign countries and blocks are ongoing to have the ‘new’ East African passport, which presently is being developed to incorporate all the latest technology, eventually recognized globally and become, like the present EU passports, THE travel document for East Africans.

Watch this space.

Kenya news update – Nairobi selected for new Visa International Africa office

KENYA TO BECOME VISA PROCESSING CENTRE FOR 25 COUNTRIES

Nairobi was reportedly selected as the operations base for a widened presence in Africa by Visa International according to media reports from Kenya. The South African office of Visa, which has looked after the company’s interests in sub-Saharan Africa, will in future deal solely with South Africa while some 25 countries will be served by the new Nairobi office.

The use of credit and debit cards in East Africa is most advanced in Kenya itself, while in other countries added fees and charges make the use of ‘plastic’ by tourists and business visitors difficult and expensive. While some banks in Uganda have now started to issue ‘branded’ Visa cards, both debit and credit, the market penetration is low, as is across much of the region. In Southern Sudan, also to be served from the new Visa office in Nairobi, it is well near impossible to find acceptance of credit cards and only banks like Kenya’s KCB are in a position to assist card holders, while ATM’s are not available at all there – leaving out the crucially important ‘cash points’ for foreign visitors.

Electronic payments in Kenya, at petrol stations, shops, restaurants, hotels are common these days, not only meeting the security demands to carry less cash but also encouraging spending – wait till the bills come – and the infrastructure with remote terminals connected by mobile phone technology has  expanded across the entire country. Here too the new Visa office has to meet challenges to roll out such technology in other Eastern, Central and Southern African countries and time will tell just how fast success will come.

For now though, carrying enough cash and travelers cheques is wise when visiting Eastern Africa and planning to travel beyond Kenya.

Kenya conservation news – Reprieve for Lamu’s heritage?

LACK OF WATER IN LAMU MAY PREVENT MEGA PROJECTS

The ancient town of Lamu is presently suffering a worsening water crisis, affecting sections of the population but also businesses like restaurants and hotels. Wells which in the past supplied fresh water, have been overexploited due to the rising population numbers and have gone ‘salty’, making them unfit for future use until natural rehabilitation has taken its course.

A leading conservationists involved in the struggle to keep the historical heritage of Lamu and its environs intact and who was involved in a more recent saga to rescue mangrove forests and wetlands from developers, had this to say: ‘I think this proves an important point we have made time and again. Lamu as it is now finds it difficult to sustain the number of people living there. Construction of a huge port and other infrastructure requires a lot more people and there is simply not enough water available for more. Constructions uses even more water, running a port would require a lot more water. Right now there is not enough for Lamu residents. How will thousands of extra workers find water. The plans of government are not thought through, they have forgotten that there are limited resources in Lamu and mega projects like a harbour and all the added buildings and roads and infrastructure cannot be sustained if there is no water. We are sad about thousands of people struggling daily to find water to cook and other domestic uses but we are also happy that this happens before thousands more are sent here to start building. Even building contractors will now see that when they put in bids and tenders, they have a big problem here. They might under the circumstances not be able to actually work here’.

Adds this correspondent that desalination is of course an alternative, albeit an expensive one, but unless and until people already living in and around Lamu have enough water, there is not much of a chance to actually break ground and start the planned mega projects any time soon.

Reprieve for Lamu, for now.

Kenya news update – Grand Regency Hotel braces itself for seizure under ‘asset freeze’

KENYA IN FINAL STAGE TO FREEZE GADAFFI’S ASSETS

The Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi, acquired by Gadaffi’s Libya under most controversial circumstances a some time ago, is bracing itself to have the ‘Laico’ in the name taken off, as has happened with hotel investments already in Rwanda and Uganda.

Information came to light over the weekend that Kenya is in the final stages of compliance with the UN’s Security Council resolutions freezing the assets of Gadaffi, his family and cronies abroad, where they have invested much of their ill-gotten wealth stolen from the people. Kenya was initially reluctant to comply with the directives of the UNSC but probably ‘saw the light’ in the face of being told the consequences of defying the decision of the UN’s key forum, while also risking damage to bilateral relations with key trading partners in Europe, should the country try to stick to this untenable position.

The Grand Regency would be the most visible Libyan asset and the potential freeze has already brought advocates of change into the fray, who demand not only full disclosure of the circumstances of the deal Kenya made with Gadaffi over the hotel, but want it reversed so that a proper bidding process, assuring maximum yield for the privatization, can be initiated. Other Libyan assets in Kenya are notably in the petroleum industry where the entire Mobil network was taken over in 2007.

Watch this space.