NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 4 – The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved funding for projects worth Sh20.6 billion ($220 million) in Kenya.
The funds are expected to be disbursed to the projects that cut across infrastructure and energy sectors until 2013.
Walter Odero, AfDB’s country economist said the projects include one by the Geothermal Development Corporation for a project in Menengai, the construction of the Voi-Taveta road and a road project that connects to Ethiopia.
Mr Odero said ongoing projects being funded by AfDB are to the tune of Sh55.2 billion ($600 million).
He added that AfDB was set to make the Kenyan office a base for its operations in the region from January 2012.
On Tuesday, AfDB signed a $40 million loan agreement with the Rift Valley Railways as part of a $164 million deal for the Kenya-Uganda railway concessionaire.
The funds to be disbursed in the next five years, will be spent on modernising the Kenya Uganda railway with its owners including Egypt’s Citadel Capital and TransCentury set to inject an additional $82 million (Sh7.3 billion) in equity.
In July, the bank projected the Kenyan economy to grow by 5.3 percent this year and accelerate to 5.5 per cent next year, even as other analysts revised their projection based on government’s budget allocation to infrastructure development.
In June during his budget speech, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta announced that he had increased the money going to infrastructure by 35 percent to Sh221 billion in 2011/12.
