NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 22 – The African Development Bank through the Sustainable Energy Fund has approved a grant of US $ 995,000 (Sh100 million) to Asticom Kenya Limited to support the construction of a 10 megawatt grid-connected municipal waste-to-energy plant.
The grant will fund the cost of conducting a full environmental and social impact assessment, detailed engineering designs, and provide project-related legal advisory services, as well as financial and transaction advisory services.
The bank says the project will be located in Kabira, in Nairobi, and will generate electricity from municipal solid waste by converting it to biogas or fuel ethanol.
“The planned diversion and use of municipal solid waste is expected to have significant health, social and development outcomes, and will be of benefit to the inhabitants of the community,” said the Sustainable Energy Fund in a statement.
The community receives 1,000 tons of municipal solid waste daily from the Nairobi County with locals contracted in the sorting of the municipal waste.
The Fund says the project aligns with the Bank’s High 5 development priorities and in particular, the agenda to Light up and Power Africa, the 10-Year Strategy, the Private Sector Development Strategy (2013-2017), the Energy Sector Policy 2012, and the New Deal on Energy for Africa.
It is also in line with Kenya’s National Development Plan and the African Development Bank’s Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for Kenya, which prioritizes the ‘enabling of physical infrastructure to unleash inclusive growth.’
