NAIROBI: Kenya Power on Wednesday launched a major network upgrade and street lighting project in the coastal city of Mombasa.
The street lighting project will include Mombasa’s Old Town at a cost of Sh45 million and will involve retrofitting of 500 existing High Pressure Sodium (HSP) lamps to Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps, replacing 5km of existing overhead streetlight conductors with aero-bundled cable conductors and the automation of the street lighting circuit.
The street lighting project will also extend to the rest of Mombasa County at a total cost of Sh1.2 billion.
“Mombasa is the second city we are going to light up after Nairobi where we have completed the refurbishment of public lighting in 369 streets as well as the installation of 121 high masts in high-population settlements such as Mathare, Korogocho, and Mukuru at a total cost of Sh953 million,” Kenya Power CEO Ben Chumo said during the launch. The street lighting project has so far seen the utility install over 12,000 LED lamps across the country.
“Kenya Power’s street lighting project has covered other towns such as Nyeri where 35 streets were lit within the town and its environs at cost of over Sh100 million. Other towns that have been covered by Kenya Power’s street lighting project are Kitale, Kapsowar, and Iten. We expect to extend the project to other counties such as Narok and Migori in due course,” Chumo added.
At the same time, the power firm will carry out a total upgrade of the electricity network in the coastal town to improve supply.
The modernisation of the power distribution network in Mombasa’s Old Town is expected to cost Sh165 million and will involve, among others, the installation of insulated aero-bundled conductor lines and the replacement of wooden poles with the more robust concrete poles. The refurbishment project is expected to be completed by end of September 2015.
