South African engineering consultancy Zutari has set up in Kenya, aiming to grow its presence in the East African country through government infrastructural projects.
The infrastructure advisory firm says it has received registration licences and registered with the Engineers Board of Kenya in civil and electrical engineering disciplines.
The firm has been involved in projects in the country including Two Rivers Mall and the Kenya Water Security and Climate Resilience Project.
Its launch comes amid an expected increase in infrastructure development by the Kenya Kwanza administration, with a Ksh244.9 billion ($1.74 billion) budget allocation to support the construction of roads and bridges and their rehabilitation and maintenance.
Another Ksh43.3 billion ($307.31 million) was also set aside for water and sewerage infrastructure development.
Zutari said it will be targeting engagements with government agencies such as the Kenya National Highways Agency (KeNHA), Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) and Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura).
“East Africa has long been identified as a growth area for Zutari, with Kenya at the centre of our expansion initiatives into the region,” said Zutari chief executive Teddy Daka.
A strong performance of the Kenyan economy in the past years has sparked a wave of investments from South African companies from the banking, capital markets, ICT and retail sectors leveraging the local market to grow customer base and revenues.
However, some have struggled to gain footing, especially in the retail space like home and building materials retailer, Builders, and Massmart which operated Game Stores that closed last year.
Zutari also said it is targeting the installation of intelligent transport systems.
