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France and Kenya sign $96 million loan deal for transmission lines

France and Kenya sign $96 million loan deal for transmission lines Power transmission lines in Kenya (source: flickr/ aaron.knox, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 12 Jun 2012

Kenya and France signed US$96 million loan agreement for updates to Kenya's power transmission lines as part of a total of $185 million transmission project.

Local news last week announced that Kenya and France have signed a Sh8.3 billion (US$96 million) loan agreement to help Kenya upgrading its power transmission lines. This is supposed to target continuous blackouts in the country.

The concessional loan, so Finance Minister Robinson Githae, “will enhance government’s efforts to distribute electricity to the urban and rural areas.”

“The financing agreement by the French government through French Development Agency (AFD) for 78.5 million euros will support the financing of the 146.7 million euro Nairobi Ring Transmission Project in order to stabilize electricity supply in the country,” Githae said.

“The project is also set to be completed by July 2014 as part of plans to enhance electricity supply to Nairobi which is home to roughly 10 percent of total population and 50 percent of total demand,” the minister said.

He said that AFD had already committed an additional 20 million euros of savings from the construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi transmission line.

“Other lenders are the European Investment Bank (EIB) which will provide 17.8 million euros, while Kenya Power and 100 percent government-owned Kenya Electricity Transmission Company have offered 17.8 million euros and 12.7 million euros respectively towards the construction,” the finance minister said.”

The article highlights the fact that it will be an important element for getting geothermal power into the national grid.

For the full article and details see link below.

Source: All Africa

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