Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir says the country is likely to plunge into another nationwide blackout if appropriate investment is not channeled towards bolstering power supply across the nation.
According to Chirchir, power supply lines in the country are overloaded, which continues to exacerbate the transmission of electricity to Kenyan homes.
Speaking to the press ,Chirchir intimated that there was a transmission constraint on Sunday at the Kisumu-Muhoroni power line which led to the nationwide power outage.
“We have not invested much in the networks. We plan on giving out a number of networks to be built by private firms. This will ease putting pressure,” he said.
He said that the government plans to build an alternative line to support supply to Western Kenya from Olkaria-Narok-Bomet-Awendo to support power transmission.
“We will build a new 33KV line between Narok and Bomet to prevent constant power outages. We will have a reduced overload line to prevent plunging the country into darkness which is not right,” he said.
The CS stated that his Ministry has not invested much in the networks and that there are plans to give out a number of networks to be built by private firms. This will ease pressure.
“Kenya has not had any major electricity system upgrades for the past 6 years and the new line will take 20 months to complete. It will be funded by the African Development Bank and Japan,” the CS added.
Sunday’s outage was the third after the first which occurred on August 25, while the second was on November 11.