Kenya Electricity Transmission Co. has awarded Adani Group and a unit of the African Development Bank a public-private partnership (PPP) concession to build high-voltage power lines, according to Bloomberg.
“The government, through Ketraco, has granted PPP concessions to Adani and Africa50 to build new transmission lines,” David Ndii, chairman of President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisers, said in a post on X. “They are hiring their project teams. The cost of these transmission lines is $1.3 billion that we do not need to borrow.”
Many Kenyans were angered by a separate proposal to give another unit of Indian tycoon Gautam Adani’s conglomerate a 30-year concession to run the country’s biggest airport. Aviation workers staged a one-day strike last week to protest those plans.
The Kenyan government has borrowed heavily and cannot afford to borrow more. To balance the need for continued investment in development, the government says it needs private money for public projects.
Casablanca-based Africa50 has a PPP project to build the 185-kilometer (115-mile) Loosuk-Lessos transmission line, according to its website. Five years ago, Ketraco said the AfDB unit would build 324 km of high-voltage links for $172.5 million.
At the time, the agency said it was tapping private investment to reduce reliance on state funding and plug an estimated $3 billion shortfall for projects due by 2030.
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2024-09-15 22:00:21