Kenya to replace Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline
2013-01-16 16:46
Nairobi - Kenya plans to construct a new $300m fuel pipeline
from the port of Mombasa to the capital to replace an older one, and possibly
extend it to Uganda.
Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) said on Wednesday it was
inviting proposals for the design of the 450-km pipeline from east Africa's
trade gateway to feed land-locked growing economies which rely on Kenya's
Mombasa port for fuel imports.
"The new pipeline is designed to meet petroleum
products demand for the eastern Africa region up to the year 2044," the
company said in a statement.
KPC said the new pipeline would complement and eventually
replace the existing pipeline linking Mombasa to Nairobi that has outlived its
30-year lifespan and is prone to ruptures.
Many of the products from Kenya's only refinery in Mombasa
have to be trucked to countries in the region, which is slow and unreliable
owing to breakdown of trucks and damaged roads. The new pipeline is expected to
ease some of the burden.
KPC's existing pipeline runs From Mombasa to Nairobi, and
onwards to the town of Nakuru in the west, and then forks to two other towns in
the region Eldoret and Kisumu.
Kenya and Uganda also hope to revive plans to extend the
pipeline past Eldoret to Uganda's capital Kampala, a distance of about 350km,
to give Uganda an option for accessing its fuel, much of which is transported
by road.
