- Kenya secures $750 million World Bank funding
- Funding to finance the Last Mile Electrification project
The World Bank has approved financing to the tune of $750 million to complete Kenya’s Last Mile Electrification project. The funding will help financially stabilise state-owned utility Kenya Power and provide funding for electricity subsidies to poorer households. The Last Mile Electrification project is an eight-year project aimed at improving access to electricity in the country.
The project has, however, missed the completion deadline for three years. “Inadequate budget transfer to fund the last mile electrification programme coupled with a slow growth in electricity consumption despite the aggressive connection campaign has caused liquidity constraints for KPLC forcing it to resort to high-cost, short-term debt to finance long-term assets”, the World Bank said.
Kenya has now moved its deadline for 100% electricity access from 2022 to 2026.