Kenya Power on Wednesday, May 17, announced plans to undertake phase four of the Last Mile Connectivity Programme (LMCP) at an estimated cost of Ksh27 billion.
In a statement, the power utility firm noted that the project would see 280,473 households in 32 counties get connected to electricity.
Under the programme initiated by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2015, Kenya Power asserted that it would put up 940 new transformers and construct new power lines.
On the other hand, KPLC indicated that it was also planning on using the existing infrastructure of 3,735 existing transformers to make the project successful.
"It will be fully funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the European Union (EU), and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
"The project was initiated in 2015 with the aim of providing affordable connection in rural and peri-urban areas and accelerating universal electricity access to drive social economic growth in line with the country’s 2030 development agenda," read the statement in part.
According to Kenya Power, the programme will commence in November 2023. It was indicated that contractors had already been called upon to apply for engagement in the programme.
Nonetheless, the specific counties to benefit from the project were not yet revealed.
Further, Kenya Power underlined the importance of the project as it pinpointed the successes that had been achieved through the implementation of the previous phases under the Jubilee administration.
For instance, the power utility firm affirmed that over 1 million houses had been connected to the national grid since 2015.
"An evaluation done by AfDB shows there has been an 83 per cent increase in the use of electricity for lighting.
"Additionally, access to electricity, according to the report, has increased the probability of children studying at night by 45 per cent while examination grades for secondary school children have increased by 34 per cent.
