Adani, AfDB Get $1.3 Billion Concession for Kenya Power Lines

(Bloomberg) -- The Kenya Electricity Transmission Co. has awarded Adani Group and a unit of the African Development Bank a public-private partnership concession to construct high-voltage power lines, according to an adviser of the East African nation’s president.

“The government through Ketraco has awarded PPP concessions to Adani and Africa50 to build new transmission lines,” David Ndii, chairman of President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisers, said in a post on X. “They are hiring their project teams. The cost of these transmission lines is $1.3 billion that we do not have to borrow.”

Many Kenyans have been angered about a separate proposal to grant another unit of the Indian mogul Gautam Adani’s conglomerate a 30-year concession to run the nation’s largest airport. Aviation workers held a one-day stoppage last week to protest those plans.

The Kenyan government has borrowed heavily and can ill afford to take on additional loans. To balance the need for continued investment in development, the government says it needs private money in public projects.

Casablanca-based Africa50 has a PPP project to construct the 185-kilometer (115-mile) Loosuk-Lessos transmission line, according to its website. Five years ago, Ketraco said the AfDB unit would construct 324 km of the high-voltage links for $172.5 million.

At the time, the agency said it was turning to private investment to cut reliance on state funding and to plug a hole estimated at $3 billion for projects due by 2030.

Adani Energy Solutions Ltd. has expressed interest in operating the Gilgil-Thika-Malaa electricity line under Ketraco, Citizen Digital reported, citing Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir. The proposal is still under evaluation, he said.

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