The Kenya Power Lighting Co has secured US$25m Africa Finance Corporation in order to rehabilitate its electricity supply system. The money is part of the total US$150m the corporation is seeking in order to acquire an electricity supply network that will accommodate 5, 000MW of power that the government is targeting by next year through improved power production.
The announcement has come a week after the Ministry of Energy said it had acquired money from World Bank to offset loans from commercial banks. The company will use part of the money (US$70 million) to settle an outstanding loan it signed with the Standard Chartered Bank for the same undertaking of boosting power supply network and capacity. The total loan was US$190 million.
US$103 million was also expected from the Exim Bank of China since the company’s managing director Ben Chumo had said they were in talks with the bank, while the rest of the money for upgrading network will come from the World Bank.
The company has set aside a budget amount of US$595 million to upgrade electricity supply network and install new substations and power lines, in order to cut down power transmission losses from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent by 2016.
Earlier on December last year, there were announcements that the company would spend US$95.9min building substations to boost power supply in the country.
