East Africa Economic Report

Geothermal steam wells. Coming to the rescue TWENTY SIXTEEN. Twenty sixteen is the year by when Kenya's electricity supply will be boosted by an estimated 1432MW from clean energy sources, including wind power and geothermal. And the cost of energy will decline by nearly 10 US cents. But twenty fourteen is also significant. That is when these sources will begin coming on stream. The players in this sector are going full steam to beat the target time. AWind Turbine: A clean energy generator The players include; Geothermal Development Corporation (GDC); Kenya Electricity generating Company (KenGen) and Lake Turkana wind power project.  Both KenGen and GDC are wholly government owned. Lake Turkana wind power ltd is a privately owned company whose goal is to generate some 300MW into the national grid from wind power. GDC was set to spearhead the development of geothermal power. Kenya is said to have a capacity to generate 10,000MW of electricity from geothermal so...

An over-pass crossing Thika Highway in Kenya: Funding  such projects  has become the preserve of the East and AfDB      AS THE EAST-WEST RIVALRY  in Africa gets stiff, the question can be asked:Will the west hold its ground?  The answer is No and YES. NO because the government in the West have lost their clout in Africa. YES because the bold in the west's private sector are in Africa and could uphold its interests, say experts. This is because an emboldened Africa has defined its development agenda and stands by it.  Consequently, the Dark Continent is dealing with its partners on its terms, according to its needs. The official west does not get this. The result is waning influence of the West in Africa.  The official West is here defined to include governments; official development agencies and NGOs funded by such agencies. This group wants to make Africa the world’s largest charitable project. The west has no idea wh...

Artist's  impression of Lamu Port THE LAMU PORT SOUTH Sudan- Ethiopia Transport Corridor (Lapsset), is the biggest business venture ever to be undertaken in East Africa and probably beyond. It is a juicy venture. The returns are mouth-watering, ranging between 14 percent and 24 percent for some of the projects. It will serve in excess of 100 million in Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. The venture Comprises thousands of kilometers of Highway. Railways and oil Pipelines, three resort cities, a seaport with 32 berths, and two International Airports.  According to its feasibility study, the project is to be undertaken on a Private- Public Partnership (PPP) basis. The consultants, Japan Port Consultants, estimate that the corridor will cost  US$23 billion. There is something for everyone in the project for every sector is involved. According to an analysis by Kenya’s Ministry of Transport, Lapsset comprises; 1,710 KM of standard Gauge railway line, 880 KM of a s...

A parking lot at Terminal 4: the Green Filed  terminal will add another 60 parking bays CONSTRUCTION OF THE  US $640million Greenfield Terminal at JKIA,Nairobi, will commence in August 2012, we can report. Officials are cagey about the details, only confirming the commencement date. They would not say who the contractors are. However, we have reliably learnt that the contract has been signed. Among the contracts signed is the supervision contract for the development of a green field terminal at Jomo Kenyatta international Airport, Nairobi. The terminal will be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. The work will last 30 months, meaning terminal shall be completed early in 2015. The Greenfield terminal will have a floor area of 172, 000 m 2 . It will be the premier hub terminal in Africa equipped for efficient connectivity for transiting passengers. It will have 50 international and 10 domestic check-in positions; 32 contact an...

NEWS ABOUT NEW FINDS OF natural gas and crude oil fields has become regular in this region this year.  Every week, we are bombarded with the good news of a new oil find inn Kenya of LNG find in Tanzania.  Our neighbours such as Uganda and South Sudan have been there before. Uganda is expected to start producing  20,000 barrels per day(bpd) soon; South Sudan has just shut down its 355,000 barrels per day wells. News in Kenya is that the crude oil potential  exceeds expectations. In Tanzania reports of new finds of natural gas  wells are almost a weekly thing.  We should cheer the new finds. After oil are causes for abundance elsewhere. But these news began to worry me. No I am not worried about  civil strive. I am worried about Economics of fuels: Could we be fueling a fuel glut in future? But I thought I was just letting my mind run wild until I stumbled  on a review of a paper  by a senior fellow at Harvard University, who thinks in th...

A wind power farm: LWTP steamingon THE LAKE TURKANA Wind power project, Africa’s largest wind power farm is on course. However, it is running behind schedule because guarantee from the World Bank are yet to be granted, investigations by this publication have established. This puts paid to  rumours that the government has poured cold water on the project. The World Bank, which is to co-guarantee the €582 million debt, has slowed down the progress on the project. This is because it came on the scene only this year and has to do some due diligence of its own before giving the nod. The other co-guarantor, the Kenya government, has already issued its letters of support. Due to the comfort from the government’s commitment, all contracts necessary have been signed and loan documentations are in place. Among the development contracts in place include; Aldwych international will oversee construction and operations of the plant.   Vestas BV will provide the maintenance of ...