Kenya Power has signed two financing agreements worth US $300M with the Africa Development Bank and the World Bank for two additional phases of the last mile connectivity project that seeks to provide power to the unconnected areas.
The Africa Development Bank Phase two project will connect 314,200 new households. This will be by optimizing 5,320 transformers while the World Bank funding will help connect of 312,500 new households. It will also add 1,000 transformers to the network.
Also read:Kenya Power predicts slower grid expansion
Kenya Power Managing Director Dr. Ken Tarus says the two phases will connect over 600,000 new customers within the next 18 months. He further adds that the utility firm aims at connecting 1.5 million customers this financial year.
“The Last Mile Connectivity Project is expected to address the high cost of extending power supply network especially in the rural and low-income areas,” says Tarus.
Increased CustomersÂ
These projects have increased Kenya Power’s customer base by 1.4 million new customers. The total number of customers is now 6.1 million customers.
“The rapid growth has raised the country’s electricity connectivity access rate from 27% in 2013 to 70.3%. The target is to achieve universal access by 2020.”
Also present during the signing of the agreement were 23 contractors who have won bids to implement the US $145m AfDB and the US $145m World Bank projects.
Tarus has called on the contractors to source materials such as poles, conductors and transformers locally as well as employ locals in the areas they will be putting up the infrastructure.
