Seeking To Light Up Kenya

KETRACO MD & CEO Eng. Joel Kiilu during the interview with Star Business Reporter Ms. Lola Okulo 

FRIDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2011 00:12 BY LOLA OKULO

IN a country where even the airport is not spared from blackouts, it may seem ambitious for someone to believe that in two years time, Kenya will be an exporter of power. However if you listen to the plans one Joel Kiilu has about power transmission in this country, you may change your mind about Kenya's future energy situation because of the optimism he exudes.

Kiilu an engineer by profession and the Managing Director of Kenya Electricity Transmission Company says the firm is on course to carry out its mandate of putting up new transmission lines to ease not just supply problems but eventually even power costs. “Currently Kenya Power and Lighting Company is still the country's major transmitter of electricity as it owns most of the transmission lines that criss-cross the country,” explains Kiilu.

However, as there was need to build more transmission lines to improve supply, Kiilu adds, the government decided to set up a transmission company to compete with KPLC. He notes that competition in the sector and in areas like transmission would work well to reduce the cost of electricity in the country. And when it is cheaper, he notes, most people can access it and Kenya will be well on its way to becoming a 24-hour economy where darkness does not curtail business operations and people's movement.

According to the managing director, It was necessary that KETRACO be set up not just to compete with KPLC but also to marshal enough funding for the planned transmission lines compared to KPLC. “KETRACO's portfolio of high voltage transmission infrastructure projects is expected to construct over 4000km in the next three to four years at an estimated cost of $1300 million (Sh122.2 billion),” reveals Kiilu.

But the projects involve usage of large tracts of land and in most cases land issues in Kenya always stir controversies. This, Kiilu notes, is one of the main headaches and stumbling blocks slowing down the pace at which the company hopes to move in laying of the transmission lines. “Land is very sensitive in Kenya and to compound this problem is the fact that people fear electricity and yet we do not want to use force as we go about our duties," says the engineer.Where the line passes through private land, the firm has to offer compensation for use of that land.

On a more serious note though, while the 4000 KV line that will export power to countries like Ethiopia is expected to be operational around 2014 or 2015, there is also the planned Uganda-Kenya link which will run between Lessos in Kenya and Tororo in Uganda that is expected to start exporting power to and fro by end of 2013. To prove that KETRACO is walking the talk, the firm which is fairly new in the scene having been incorporated in 2008 has already completed four projects while another 30 are in the pipeline. It projects that its assets will grow six fold to Sh50 million within the next four years.

The firm which is currently financed by government and development partners hopes in a few years time to be fully self-dependent. “Initially we just wanted to make enough money for maintenance and depreciation,” says Kiilu. But to make KETRACO profitable, the engineer notes that wheeling (the actual transmission of power via the lines) to other regional countries will be a major cash source for the firm. It is expected that this will happen in the next seven to 10 years when the market is expected to be “fully blown.”

And that is not all. KETRACO is eyeing data business as the country becomes more technologically advanced and demand for data-related services continues to soar. In its business plans, KETRACO wants to put up fibre optic lines on top of every line it constructs going ahead as it also eyes data transfer revenues. “Kenya will become an industrialized state as vision 2030 spells out, it can be done and we are doing it,” states the KETRACO boss.

Story- Courtesy of Star  http://www.the-star.co.ke/business/profiles/40708-seeking-to-light-up-kenya