Industry

Industry
Theme
Pillar	Economic Development

Industry is a theme of the Economic Development pillar. It covers manufacturing, mining, special economic zones, small enterprises and jua kali. Coastal manufacturing is concentrated in Mombasa, which contributed an average of 9.9 per cent of Kenya's manufacturing gross value added between 2019 and 2023, second only to Nairobi. Nationally, manufacturing accounted for 7.1 per cent of GDP in 2025 (a provisional figure), down from 7.7 per cent in 2022. Industrial titanium mining in Kwale ended in 2024.

What this page is for

Please add the factories, mines, industrial parks, data and stakeholder views on coastal industry that you know about.

Industry on the coast today

Industry on the coast is uneven. Between 2019 and 2023 Mombasa averaged 9.9 per cent of national manufacturing value added and Kilifi 4.6 per cent, while Kwale (0.7), Taita-Taveta (0.3), Lamu (0.1) and Tana River (0.1) each contributed under one per cent; the estimates include informal household manufacturing. Kilifi's plan notes that the county's titanium, iron ore and salt deposits support regional iron sheet and cement manufacturing.

Mining has mattered most in Kwale, where it lifted the county's share of national secondary-sector output between 2019 and 2023. Kwale's plan, written in 2023, said the titanium operation accounted for almost 65 per cent of the value of Kenya's mineral output. Base Titanium stopped mining at Msambweni at the end of 2024 after commercially viable ore ran out, with the loss of about 1,500 jobs. From 2014 to June 2024 it paid KES 17.4 billion in royalties and KES 12.3 billion in income tax; the land is being rehabilitated.

Taita-Taveta produces gemstones including tsavorite and has 12 artisanal mining cooperative societies; in January 2025 the State Department for Mining said the Voi Gemstone Value Addition Centre, commissioned in 2023, was not fully used. The county government has inventoried 153 mining activities and georeferenced 40 mines for a county mineral database.

The largest planned industrial site is the Dongo Kundu special economic zone, about 3,000 acres south of the port of Mombasa (see Dongo Kundu SEZ Off-Site Infrastructure). By August 2026 only Taifa Gas, whose LPG terminal was about 80 per cent complete, and Milly Glass, planning a pharmaceutical glass factory with at least 300 direct jobs, had made visible commitments, and the access road, power and water were still at contract or procurement stage.

Plans and policy

Under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, the County Aggregation and Industrial Parks programme funds a park in each county with KES 250 million each from the county and the State Department for Industry, which aims to raise manufacturing from about 7 per cent of GDP to 15 per cent by 2027 and 20 per cent by 2030. In February 2025 the government signed lease agreements with Afreximbank to mobilise about US$1 billion for infrastructure at Dongo Kundu and Naivasha. Nationally, special economic zones had realised about US$960.7 million of investment and 4,392 jobs (against 26,000 projected) by early 2024, according to the National Investment Strategy 2024-2028. Mining is governed by the Mining Act 2016, under which the Ministry of Mining invited expressions of interest in March 2026 for niobium and rare earths at Mrima Hill in Kwale.

Among the county plans for 2023-2027, Mombasa's reports a completed feasibility study for an industrial park and the creation of the Mombasa Investment Corporation, and targets full construction of an industrial park or special economic zone during the plan period. Kilifi proposes industrial parks at several growth centres and a Kaloleni to Mariakani industrial corridor. Lamu aims to develop special economic zones and promote the jua kali sector, and Tana River plans an industrial park.

Who is involved

Nationally, the State Department for Industry runs the county parks programme, and the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs runs mineral tenders. At Dongo Kundu the Kenya Ports Authority handles land applications and Afreximbank is a financier, while the Kenya National Highways Authority, the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company and JICA handle roads, power and water. County trade departments and the Mombasa Investment Corporation lead locally. Other voices include the Kenya Association of Manufacturers and the Taita-Taveta Artisanal Miners Association.

Open questions

Will Dongo Kundu attract factories? In July 2026 Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui promised an access road within weeks. Investors and analysts quoted by The Standard say many firms are waiting for utilities, internal roads and worker housing. The World Bank has pointed to land, compensation and financing constraints, and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers argues that the cost and predictability of logistics now matter more than access alone.

Who should benefit from minerals after titanium? The Mrima Hill tender requires local processing and community engagement, and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said the government will work only with firms that restore land after mining. Mijikenda elders regard the hill as sacred and have resisted mining there for decades, and environmentalists warn of toxic processing chemicals and low-level radioactive waste.

Are county industrial parks well planned? In September 2026 senators visiting Kilifi's KES 500 million park, then 25 per cent complete, questioned why work began without a feasibility study and objected to a uniform design across counties. The State Department for Industry replied that it wrote the concept papers and that feasibility studies were the counties' responsibility.

Can gemstone value addition reach small miners? Taita-Taveta miners and leaders want faster licensing, trained gem cutters and better market access, and the Voi MP wants royalties to benefit all residents. The State Department for Mining says its focus is regulation and value addition.

Coverage the plan expects

• Dongo Kundu special economic zone
• manufacturing and industrial parks
• mining in Kwale and Taita-Taveta
• small and medium enterprises and jua kali
• rehabilitation and reuse of the former titanium mine at Msambweni
• rare earths and niobium at Mrima Hill

Projects

Dongo Kundu SEZ Off-Site Infrastructure

Lamu Oil Refinery

Lamu Spaceport

Lamu Spaceport Liquid Oxygen Plant

Malindi Textiles and Fashion Incubation Centre

A project page joins this theme by naming it as the theme in its infobox. To start one:

Sources

• Gross County Product 2024, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2024
• Economic Survey 2026: Facts and Figures, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2026
• County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs), State Department for Industry, undated
• Mombasa County Integrated Development Plan 2023-2027, County Government of Mombasa, 2023
• Kwale County Integrated Development Plan 2023-2027, County Government of Kwale, 2023
• Kilifi County Integrated Development Plan 2023-2027, County Government of Kilifi, 2023
• Taita Taveta County Integrated Development Plan 2023-2027, County Government of Taita Taveta, 2023
• Inside Kenya's SEZ strategy, Capital FM, 2026
• End of an era as Base shuts Kenya mine, Business Daily, 2025