NAIROBI, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to allow private sector investments in the electricity transmission lines in order to expand the national grid, officials said.
State Owned Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) Senior Technical Advisor John Mativo told Xinhua recently in Nairobi that Nairobi currently has 4,600 km of electricity transmission lines against a target of 15,000 km by the year of 2030.
"Government finances are not sufficient to build all the required transmission lines and so Kenya plans to attract private sector investments in the construction of the transmission lines," Mativo said.
The East African nation plans to use Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to enlist private sector investments. "We have submitted the proposal to Cabinet and we hope to get approval next month," Mativo said.
Under the PPP model, the private sector will build, own and operate electricity lines for a period of 20 years and hand over the infrastructure to the government.
For the private firms to be eligible, they have to provide guarantees that the electricity transmission lines they will build will be up, 98 percent of the time.
Mativo said that investors will charge users of the electricity transmission lines an additional tariff in order to recoup their investments.
"We hope that the electricity tariff will have reduced by the time the PPP model is rolled out so that our electricity rates remain competitive," he added.
Ketraco said that it is currently undertaking construction of 5,000 km of electricity transmission lines which is being financed by concessional loans from development partners.
