THE KENYA POWER & LIGHTING CO. LTD.

Stima Plaza

PRESS RELEASE
18th May 2007

GOVERNMENT IN MASSIVE RURAL ELECTRIFICATION

The Minister for Energy, Mr Kiraitu Murungi kicked off the second phase of rural electrification projects funded by AFD, the development assistance arm of the French government, which will cost Shs.2.8 billion. He performed the ground breaking ceremony for the first project in phase two at Lwanda-Kotieno fish landing beach in Rarieda Constituency of Bondo District on Thursday, that will cost Shs.45 million to complete. The government, he said, had set aside Shs.8.4 billion in the 2006/2007 financial year for implementation of 1,330 rural electrification projects throughout the country. Out of this amount, Shs.300 million is being spent on installing solar electricity generators in secondary schools in arid and semi-arid lands in North Eastern, Eastern, Rift Valley and Coast Provinces. He told a meeting at Lwanda Kotieno that Shs.850 million was spent in phase one of the AFD funded schemes, during which 70 trading centres, 40 secondary schools, six coffee factories and several health centres, water projects and over 3,000 individual customers were connected to the grid. Mr Murungi expressed gratitude to the government of France for supporting the governments initiative to extend the electricity grid to rural areas, and also for the Shs.1.8 billion financial contribution to the multi-donor funded Energy Sector Recovery Project, now ongoing. He was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Raphael Tuju, the France Ambassador to Kenya, Ms Elizabeth Barbier, the Kenya Power and Lighting Company Chairman and Managing Director, Messrs Dr Crowther Pepela and Zachary Ayieko, respectively. Meanwhile, the Kenya Power & Lighting Company (KPLC), which implements the rural electrification project on behalf of the government, completed 384 rural electrification projects in 143 constituencies by the end of April 2007; while another 946 schemes were at various stages of implementation in various constituencies. The company is projecting to complete 556 projects by the end of June 2007, when the 2006/2007 financial year ends.

KPLC has fast-tracked the rural electrification process and is using contractors as well as its own staff in the exercise, which has generated jobs for hundreds of Kenyans. In other plans, new diesel generating machines will be installed in Mandera (800 kW), Lodwar (400 kW), Mpeketoni (480 kW), Elwak (800 kW), Hola (800 kW), Habasweni (800 kW) and Merti (800 kW) by November 2007. Of these, Mpeketoni, Elwak, Hola, Habasweni and Merti will be supplied with electricity under government funding for the first time ever. Other major towns which have been supplied with electricity during the current financial year are Garsen Divisional Headquarters in Tana River District (at Shs.107 million) and Namanga Town in Kajiado District (at Shs125 million). The foregoing plans are all part of an ambitious government programme to increase electricity connectivity in the rural areas from the current four percent to about 40 percent by 2020. The rural electrification schemes are facilitating connection of hundreds of Kenyans by targeting trading centres, schools, health institutions, coffee and tea factories and private properties adjacent to these facilities, among others. KPLC has a target to connect about 360,000 new customers by 2008-09 throughout the country. Ends
For more information, contact: The Kenya Power & Lighting Company Ltd. Corporate Communications Dept. Tel: 3201622/647