Kenya Power has announced that it has commenced the relocation of power lines between Mlolongo, Mombasa road and James Gichuru road to pave way for construction of the 27.1-kilometer-long Nairobi Expressway.
The exercise will be carried out at a cost of Ksh. 1.08 Billion which will be met by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KENHA). The scope of work will involve the relocation of a combined 106 kilometres of high voltage (66kV), medium voltage (11kV), and low voltage cables as well as 28 transformers serving the area.
The exercise which begun earlier this month is expected to be completed at the end of November this year. It is being carried out by a team of 60 employees from Kenya Power and 4 external underground cabling contractors. As at today, Kenya Power has so far covered 17 kilometres of the Expressway. Once completed, 40.6 kilometres of the network will pass underground.
Kenya Power’s Managing Director & CEO, Bernard Ngugi, had this to say, “When executing projects of this magnitude, some of the customers within the estates along the Expressway corridor will experience interruptions in power supply. However, the Company is planning to minimize power interruptions by leveraging the Live Line Maintenance technology which relocate most of the lines without switching off supply.