The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) has restarted a push for the construction of Sh31.8 billion ($245.93 million) transmission lines under a maiden public-private partnership (PPP) agreement, barely six months after cancellation of a similar deal that had been awarded to the embattled Adani Group of India.
In a new development, the State agency has invited bids for transaction advisory services for the construction of four power transmission lines under a PPP arrangement.
The consultants will undertake feasibility studies, identify the best PPP model and guide financial closure that will pave the way for construction of the transmission lines, with the first project due to start next year.
The move by Ketraco comes barely six months after President William Ruto was forced to cancel a Sh95.16 billion PPP-funded deal that had been secretly awarded to Adani Energy Solution— a subsidiary of the Adani Group.
The cancellation came hours after the conglomerate founder, Gautam Adani, was indicted in the United States over bribery allegations.
The PPP-funded construction of power transmission lines will allow the government to undertake the capital-intensive projects without relying on loans or further squeezing the exchequer, which is already choking under the weight of debt repayments.
“Ketraco, under provisions of the PPP Act 2021, wishes to engage a transaction advisor (TA) to assist with all the phases of the project preparation, including a detailed feasibility study of the projects and the competitive procurement of a project sponsor/developer for the transmission lines and substations described above through a PPP arrangement,” Ketraco says in the documents.
The 220 kilovolts (kV) Kiambere-Maua-Isiolo, which spans 145 kilometres, will be the costliest at $120 million (Sh15.51 billion) and is scheduled to start in 2029, while the 220kV Kwale - Shimoni (Kibuyuni) will be the second most expensive of the four lines at $84.9 million (Sh10.97 billion) and is set to start in 2027.
The third line is the 132kV Meru-Maua, which is estimated to cost $26.63 million (Sh3.44 billion) and is set to start in 2028, while the fourth is the 132 kV Kipevu-Mbaraki line, which will span seven kilometres at a cost of $14.4 million (Sh1.86 billion) and will start next year.
Three of the lines will be used to reinforce the existing medium-voltage transmission lines, while the fourth will provide an alternative path for evacuating and supplying solar and wind power in Isiolo.
The transaction advisors tapped to guide negotiations with investors for the four lines are expected to help Ketraco avoid the kind of setbacks it suffered last year in its botched deal with Adani Group.
Adani Energy Solutions had been secretly awarded a deal to build the 208.73-km 400kV Gilgil-Thika-Malaa-Konza, 95km 220kV Rongai-Keringet-Chemosit and the 70km 132kV Menengai-Olkalou-Rumuruti lines.
The Indian company was also to build two substations and later recover the money by charging consumers a special tariff over 30 years.
The construction of the three lines and two substations remains in limbo given that Ketraco is yet to invite bidders to spearhead talks with potential investors to deliver the five.
