Kenya Power’s Last Mile Connectivity Project (LMCP) has received a boost of Ksh. 1.85 billion grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Thanks to the grant, more than nine thousand households in Nakuru, Kilifi, Kwale and Nyandarua are set to be connected to the grid under Phase V of the project.
The JICA grant comes two months after Kenya Power signed twenty-six contracts for the implementation of Phase IV of the Last Mile Connectivity Project. The Ksh. 27 billion project is funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), the European Union (EU) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). According to the company, the Project will connect a total of 280,000 new customers to the grid by November 2025.
Funded to the tune of Ksh. 73.1 billion to date, the Last Mile Connectivity Project is anchored on the Kenya National Electrification Strategy that was developed in 2015 to speed up electricity access for households and businesses in Kenya. Kenya Power is the implementing agency of the project on behalf of the Government of Kenya.
Since its inception in 2015, the Last Mile Connectivity Project has significantly contributed to the growth of the electricity access rate in the county which currently stands at 76% with 9.6 million households connected to the grid. A total of 746,867 households have been connected to the grid under the first three phases of the Last Mile Project at a cost of Ksh. 51.1 billion.
This success is primarily hinged on maximizing the efficiency of existing distribution transformers by connecting every household within 600m of the transformer. This, coupled with the installation of new transformers to serve households outside this radius.
“We expect to connect all the targeted households across the four counties by January 2025. The company is committed to fast-tracking electricity connection across the country to achieve universal access to electricity. We thank JICA for the grant which will go a long way to enable these households to access electricity and transform their livelihoods,” said Eng. Rosemary Oduor, Kenya Power’s General Manager for Commercial Services and Sales.