Kenya and Tanzania have reaffirmed their commitment to build a gas pipeline, in order to secure affordable energy for Kenyan demand.
“We will now expedite the gas pipeline from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa and eventually to Nairobi,” said President William Ruto at the conclusion of his visit to Tanzania. Ruto and his Tanzania counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan signed a communique on improving links between the two states.
Ruto said the pipeline agreement aimed to capitalise on regional resources. Improved gas supplies, he said, would “lower energy tariffs, both for industry and commercial purposes and domestic use in Kenya”.
Ultimately, such a project will “improve the quality of life for our people” and industrial competitiveness.
The government of Kenya will support the construction of the link, he said, which would be a “public private partnership”.
“We are going to ensure that whatever the government of Kenya needs to do will be done in a timely efficient and effective manner,” Ruto said. As a result, the aim is to secure gas in “the shortest time possible”.
Ruto’s support for the pipeline from Tanzania comes in contrast to his comments last week backing renewable energy.
In a comment piece in The Guardian, he said Africa had an abundance of renewable energy potential. “Rather than trudging in the fossil-fuel footsteps of this who went before, we can leapfrog this dirty energy and embrace the benefits of clean power,” he wrote.
Of Kenya’s electricity, 92% comes from renewable resources, he said, with the aim of increasing this to 100% by 2030.
IRENA reported that Kenya’s renewable resources provided 77% of the country’s needs in 2019. It had an electrification rate of 71% of the population.
Recommended for you
