The National Treasury has allocated Ksh.3.1 billion to Konza Technopolis to support the development of data centres and other smart city infrastructure as part of efforts to accelerate progress at Kenya’s flagship tech hub.
While presenting the 2025/26 budget on June 12, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi noted that the allocation is aimed at fast-tracking the completion of key infrastructure within the planned smart city. The amount, however, reflects a reduction from the Ksh.5.2 billion that had been allocated to the data centre initiative in the 2024/25 financial year.
Konza’s allocation is drawn from the Ksh.12 billion set aside for the Ministry of ICT in the current budget—down from Ksh.16.3 billion in the previous financial year, reflecting broader cuts across the ministry’s infrastructure development portfolio.
In addition to the data centre funding, Konza will receive another Ksh.2.3 billion for the ongoing construction of the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), a flagship research university based within the Technopolis. The same amount had been allocated to KAIST in the previous budget.
Other major ICT allocations in the 2025/26 budget include:
- Ksh.3.7 billion for the Kenya Digital Economy Acceleration Project
- Ksh.689 million for establishing digital hubs across the country
- Ksh.750 million for maintaining and rehabilitating the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI)
- Ksh.333.2 million for Government Shared Services
- Ksh.382 million for the development of the Digital Superhighway
In his first national budget as Treasury CS, Mbadi also outlined major ICT investments across other ministries. These include the expansion of last-mile fibre-optic connectivity, digitisation of government services, rollout of digital hubs, and development of an e-procurement platform under the Kenya e-Government Procurement (e-GP) system.
In line with the government’s push to improve tax compliance and digital service delivery, the budget also emphasized continued support for Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) digitisation efforts. Among these are auto-populated VAT returns, an Electronic Rental Income Tax system, and the integration of the Tax Invoice Management System (TIMS) in the petroleum sector. KRA is also scaling up the GAVA Connect platform to streamline public access to tax-related services.
While the 2025/26 budget steered clear of introducing new direct taxes, it prioritised digital infrastructure as a key driver of economic efficiency and service delivery.
The Education Ministry received the largest share of the budget at Ksh.702.7 billion, followed by the Energy, Infrastructure, and ICT sectors, which collectively received Ksh.535.6 billion—up from Ksh.444.3 billion in the previous financial year.
