Coal mines to run at same time as bid won
Peter Kithung’a, a resident of the Mui Basin in Kitui, points at the area where Fenxi Mining Industry Company intends to start mining coal. FILE PHOTO | SALATON NJAU |
What you need to know:
- HCIG has been tasked with construction of a coal-fired power plant using coal from the blocks and to sell surplus electricity to the national grid.
Coal mining across Mui basin in Kitui County will run concurrently after the government awarded a contract this week for the remaining two blocks.
A consortium of HCIG Energy Investment Company of China and its local partnership, Liketh Investment Kenya Ltd, beat two other conglomerates to emerge winners in the tendering process.
HCIG has been tasked with construction of a coal-fired power plant using coal from the blocks and to sell surplus electricity to the national grid.
The government maintained faith with Chinese investors in coal mining and power generation after it announced that HCIG was the successful bidder for the concession of both Mui basin Coal Block A (Zombe-Kabati) and Block B (Mutito-Itiko).
It will join another Chinese firm, Fenxi Mui Mining Company, which was awarded Blocks C and D in 2011, in pitching tent at Mui basin for the next 21 years to exploit the resource simultaneously.
They beat two other consortiums of Transcentury Investments Ltd, Continental Coal and Power Machines OJSC; and China Northeast Electric Power Engineering Corporation (NEPC) and China Coal Technology and Engineering Group (CCTEG).
In the tender notice, the successful bidder was required to satisfy tough financial and technical conditions, including ability to raise funds in excess of $200 million (Sh17.6 billion in current exchange rates).
