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Blackouts may be history in the next two months


Nairobi residents may kiss blackouts a bye within the next two months as the power provider firm embarks on a multibillion shilling improvement programme.

Refurbishment of 10 substations has already started. These are NSSF, Nairobi South, Nairobi West, Mombasa Road, New Airport, Syokimau, New Industrial Area, Athi River, Jogoo Road and Dara.

Speaking on Wednesday during the launch of the project dubbed Boresha Stima Viwandani (expand electricity coverage in industrial areas) Nairobi South Regional Manager Joshua Mwangi said the aim was to improve supply through reduction of interruptions.

Large consumers

“It will greatly complement the efforts that the firm has put towards reducing power interruptions for its large and essential service customers,” said Mr Mwangi.

The work will also involve rehabilitation of cables and realignment of high tension lines.

Kenya Power will, at the same time, use Sh2 billion in the next year to construct additional lines dedicated to serving large consumers like factories. The company sells 60 per cent of its power to the large consumers.

The company aims at increasing power generation through expansion and distribution of electricity infrastructure.

“We want to add 5,000 MW by 2017 and increase the generation capacity by about 300 per cent from the current 1,652 MW to 6,652 MW,” he said.

Kenya Power has on countless occasions found itself on the receiving end of criticism due to outages.