African Development Bank partners with UK to bolster Kenya’s electricity grid

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 24-The Africa Development Bank in collaboration with the UK government have committed to bolster Kenya’s national electricity grid system in a bid to address the transmission system gaps in the country.

This follows the country being selected as a beneficiary of the Transmission Network Improvement Project under the Room to Run Sovereign transaction (R2RS).

This means that $59 million (Ksh 9,646,500,000) will be channeled to the country through the additional capital unlocked by the UK Government guarantee.

The announcement comes hot on the heals of power blackouts that have previously hit the nation including its major installations among them the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). These partners maintains that it will propel Kenya to achieve universal electricity access and improving the quality of life of communities through enhanced socioeconomic development.

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“Powering economies requires power for people. We’re working together with the AfDB and Kenya to deliver what Kenyans want and need: reliable power for reliable economic growth all with green energy that protects the prospects of future generations. The UK and Kenya are going far and going together,” observed OBE High Commissioner to Kenya Neil Wigan.

“This transaction is one of several projects constituting its lending program through which the African Development Bank fulfils the call by stakeholders at COP27 for MDBs to innovate and scale up climate finance through the Multilateral Development Banks. The African Development Bank is proud to partner with the UK in this initiative and to be at the forefront of such developments,” averred African Development Bank Vice-President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, Kevin Kariuki on his part

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AfDB’s Director General for East Africa Nnenna Nwabufo maintained that “Kenya is close to achieving universal electricity access with a high component of renewable energy. This represents a major milestone in both sustainable development and the fight against climate change.”

The project is one of five projects to benefit from the unlocked lending capacity provided by R2RS since the agreement was signed in 2022.