Kiambaa MP has lauded the county government for the implementation of the 'Stima Mashinani' initiative in Karura and Kagongo villages.
Speaking in his office on Tuesday, Kiambaa MP Paul Koinange said that the project which is an initiative of the 'Pesa Mashinani' was aimed at providing electricity at the grass roots level and aims at benefiting at least 3000 people from the area.
He observed that so far the project had benefited at least 800 homes and that the government was collaborating with Kenya Power Company to light more homes through the project.
Koinange said it was through the project that high mast floodlights have been erected in strategic areas of the sub-county to curb insecurity cases with at least 18 of them having being constructed within the past financial year.
“This project will be a major contributor towards education as it is going to benefit even local schools. Lack of electricity should not be the contributing factor towards failure in education like in the recent years where people used kerosene lamps for lighting,” he said.
He said that every citizen who had filed an application form through the local chief’s office two months ago would not be left out at any cost as the project is indiscriminate and targets low income earners by paying for the electricity connection leaving them to pay for the monthly bills.
The MP advised those who had not applied to apply for the recently launched 'stima' loan by the government an initiative of KPLC in partnership with French Development Agency (FDA) meant for low income families that cannot afford the connection fees upfront by giving them loans at 5% off administration fee.
Joseph Mwangi, a resident says that he is unaware that people filled application forms at the chief’s office for them to get power in their homes and premises.
“The news came to many of us as a surprise because the means by which it was communicated is still unclear. For that reason, majority of us have been left out yet we would have loved to be included,” he said.