A grant of Sh1.85 billion from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has given the Last Mile Connectivity Project (LMCP) a major boost. 9,121 homes in the counties of Nakuru, Kilifi, Kwale, and Nyandarua will be wired into the grid as part of Phase Five of the project. This grant is a component of JICA’s larger financing initiatives for important energy-related projects in these areas.
“We hope to have connected every household in these four counties by January 2025. In order to attain universal access, we are dedicated to expediting the national rollout of power connections,” stated Eng. Rosemary Oduor, General Manager for Commercial Services and Sales at Kenya Power. “We are appreciative of JICA for this grant, which will significantly improve access to electricity and change lives” ,Added Engineer Odu.
According to Engineer Oduor, Kenya Power just signed 26 contracts for Phase Four of the Last Mile Connectivity Project, which is why they received the JICA award. With a budget of Sh27 billion, Phase Four is supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency (AFD), and the European Union (EU) and intends to link 280,000 additional users by November 2025.
The Last Mile Connectivity Project has been funded to this point with Sh73.1 billion. According to Eng. Oduor, it is a crucial part of the Kenya National Electrification Strategy, which was created in 2015 to speed up energy availability for homes and businesses.
With 9.6 million households connected to the grid, the initiative has substantially raised the percentage of energy access, which was just 76% in 2015 when it was first launched. At an expense of Ksh 51.1 billion, 746,867 households were connected over the first three phases.
“We were able to serve households outside of a 600-meter radius by installing new distribution transformers and optimizing the ones that were already in place,” Eng. Rosemary Oduor said.
According to Engineer Oduor, Kenya Power has expanded its transmission and distribution network to encompass more than 306,000 kilometers.
The corporation served more than 9.62 million accounts as of May 2024, giving more than 76% of the population access to the national grid. Kenya Power is to be the go-to source for energy solutions by providing dependable, sustainable service and advancing technological innovation and socioeconomic development in the nation.
