Kenya is planning a $152m investment in an effort to boost its power grid capacity and support more than 300,000 residents.
Kenya Power CEO Ben Chumo said that the African Development Bank (AfDB) has forwarded additional funding for the Last Mile Connectivity project, which aims to upgrade the power grid and increase access for more households.
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Funding for Kenya Power, the sole power distributor in the country, will enable it to connect with 310,851 more customers under the second phase of the project.
Phase one of the project will connect 314,200 customers, Chumo said.
AfDB has also offered financing to Kenya Electricity Transmission (KETRACO) for the Kenya-Tanzania interconnector project.
This transmission project is intended to boost supplies and ensure affordable costs through cross-border exchanges of cheap and cleaner surplus power from the country neighbours.
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By GlobalDataKenya intends to set-up 5,000km of power lines, along with a 6,700MW of installed capacity by 2017.
Xinhua News agency cited KETRACO acting CEO Fenardes Barasa as saying that the interconnector project with Tanzania is the initial step for the Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya interconnector project, which is expected to facilitate energy trades in the Eastern and Southern African power pools.
Barasa said: "KETRACO will implement part of the project by constructing the 93km line from Isinya substation to Arusha substation.
"This part of the project will be financed by Kenya and African Development Bank at a cost of $7.16m and $50m respectively."
