The move came as Centum announced that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Petition Committee had ruled in favour of its consortium with Gulf Energy regarding the development and operation of the Lamu 1,000 Megawatts (MW) coal power plant/FILE
On the back of increased trading in Centum shares, equity turnover rose 14.2 percent to Sh310.1million trading 985,400 shares during the session on local investor demand.
The move came as Centum announced that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Petition Committee had ruled in favour of its consortium with Gulf Energy regarding the development and operation of the Lamu 1,000 Megawatts (MW) coal power plant.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) committee rejected requests by the petitioner – Hebei Construction Investment Group – to stop the project on the basis that it was awarded unfairly.
READ: Lamu coal power project given go ahead
The project is expected to cost approximately Sh177billion ($2billion), of which Sh44.2billion ($500 million) will be funded by equity and the balance will be funded through debt.
The coal project is part of the 5,000 Megawatts power projects set by the Jubilee government to be complete in three and a half years time.
Commenting on the ruling, Centum Investment Company Chairman Dr Chris Kirubi said they will kick off the project as soon as possible considering “the time that has been wasted on these cases.”
“We have to go on. The impediments have been removed on us and we now have to run to catch up with the time which we have lost; very precious time,” Kirubi said.
He went ahead to call for changes to procurement laws that will see any petitioner required to pay a fee before stopping any project. He says this will hinder unnecessary delays of important projects.
