NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 4 – The construction of the 120 Megawatts Kipevu III thermal power plant in Mombasa is set to start soon after KenGen opened the tenders for its establishment on Friday.
Ten companies expressed interest in the tender for the plant which will be put up on land acquired from the Export Processing Zones Authority near the two existing KenGen thermal power plants.
“The public tender being opened today will help us move towards stabilisation of electric power supply in the country and reduce dependence on sources that are prone to climatic variations,” said KenGen Business Development and Strategy Director Albert Mugo.
The plant will be developed with funds to be raised through the KenGen Public Infrastructure Bond Offer which opens for sale to investors on September 8 this year.
Kipevu III thermal power plant is expected to be commissioned in December 2010 and is part of the company’s short-term strategy to stabilize the power situation in the country by commissioning 500 MW from fast-tracked projects.
As part of the efforts to finance its expansion programme through the debt market and other sources, KenGen launched the Sh15 billion public infrastructure bond on August 31, with Kipevu III power plant being the main beneficiary.
