Dongo Kundu SEZ: glass plant plans meet missing roads and utilities
Key points
- Milly Glass SEZ Ltd has taken 15 acres at Dongo Kundu to build an 80-tonne pharmaceutical amber-bottle factory aimed at Comesa markets.
- Director Mohamed Rashid targets ground-breaking imminently and production by July 2027; about 300,000 bottles with machinery from Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
- Jobs claim: at least 300 direct and 200 indirect roles, plus support for more than 100 MSMEs — if access roads and utilities arrive.
- Only two major private anchors (Taifa Gas ~80% complete; Milly Glass) are highly visible after 20+ years of SEZ promotion.
More than two decades after planners sketched a coastal industrial dream next to the Port of Mombasa, the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone is again in the news — not because the 3,000-acre site is finished, but because a new manufacturer is ready to pour concrete while basic roads and utilities still lag, The Standard reported after Trade and Investment Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui toured the zone.
The latest committer is Milly Glass SEZ Ltd, a Milly Group subsidiary planning what it describes as Africa’s first pharmaceutical glass bottle manufacturing plant. The firm has acquired 15 acres and intends an 80-tonne glass works for amber pharma bottles serving Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the wider Comesa market. Director Mohamed Rashid said the company expects to break ground at the end of the month and hopes to start production by July 2027, producing about 300,000 bottles with machinery from Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Employment pitch: at least 300 direct jobs and 200 indirect roles in transport, packaging and chemicals, plus support for more than 100 small and micro enterprises.
Infrastructure is still the gatekeeper
Rashid’s caveat was blunt: without an all-weather access road, moving delicate materials will be costly even if contracts are ready. Broader investor complaints list missing internal roads, reliable electricity, water, sewerage and worker housing. Only two major private anchors are highly visible on the ground — Taifa Gas (LPG storage estimated about 80 per cent complete, adding roughly 30,000 metric tonnes capacity) and Milly Glass — a thin haul for a flagship zone first conceived in the early 2000s under the Mombasa Port Development Programme.
Public works in motion include Kenya Ports Authority’s Berth One for direct maritime access, a KeNHA-awarded port access road not yet under construction as contracts finalise, Ketraco power transmission procurement, and JICA-linked water and sewerage packages. Kinyanjui said government would ensure a proper access road “within the next few weeks” and framed the state’s role as creating incentives so private capital can treat the area as a domestic and export logistics hub. The completed Dongo Kundu Bypass has already cut travel times to the South Coast and port. Business desk: Business. Verified investor claims, job numbers, Taifa progress and infrastructure gaps from The Standard; actual start of production in 2027 depends on utilities that are still on paper for many plots.
Based on The Standard reporting of the CS Kinyanjui tour and investor statements at Dongo Kundu SEZ. Company filings and agency project schedules control final timelines and capacities.
