KenGen signs Sh3.93bn deal

KenGen on Monday signed a Sh3.93 billion contract, which will nearly double the output of the Kindaruma Power Station, three days after an appeal by one of its bidders was thrown out.

The power generator signed the agreement with Andritz Hydro Company of Austria after the Procurement Appeals Review Board dismissed an appeal lodged by Voith Hydro, which was one of the companies that had unsuccessfully bid for the project.

The contract, which entails installation of a 24Mw third turbine generator and rehabilitation of the two existing units at the power station, is partly being funded from proceeds of the KenGen Public Infrastructure Bond.

The bond, which raised Sh26.6 billion against a target of Sh15 billion, saw KenGen absorbing Sh25 billion of the applications through a Sh10 billion green shoe option. “This is part of our efforts to ensure we stabilise the power situation in the country as we pursue our long-term goal of focusing on sustainable and renewable energy sources like geothermal and wind energy,” said KenGen managing director, Edward Njoroge.

Mr Njoroge was speaking after signing the agreement with Andritz Hydro Projects manager, Oscar Van Rooy, at the KenGen offices in Nairobi. Coming at a time when the country is grappling with a demand for power that is almost matching supply, the project will see Kindaruma’s output increasing from 40MW to 72Mw.

Also co-financed by Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) of Germany, the project is expected to be completed in 41 months. However, the civil works for the project will be carried out under a different contract currently in the tendering stage.

The power station was originally designed and constructed with a provision for three turbine generator units, but only two were initially installed. Kindaruma Power Station is located about 160km north-east of Nairobi on River Tana.

It was commissioned in 1968 as the first major development of the Tana River Seven Forks Hydroelectric Cascade and lies between the upstream Gitaru and downstream Kiambere hydroelectric power stations.