A section of Mombasa Town. Photo/ travelstart.co.ke
Mombasa residents are set to enjoy cheap electricity after the Court of Appeal permitted the establishment of a geothermal power line from Nairobi to Mombasa.
This comes after the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) appealed against a judgment issued by Justice George Odunga of the High Court on December 22, 2016.In his ruling, Justice John Kitivo allowed the project to continue and referred the case to the Environment and Lands Court.“I allow the preliminary objection and direct that this file be transferred to the Environment and Land Court for hearing and determination,” said Justice Kitivo.In an interview with a local radio station on Friday, Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter said that they hope to complete the project by June of this year, adding that those who had delayed the case by going to court were hurting the economy.“By delaying this project, these people have held the economy at ransom. We now hope to finish by June,” said Keter.The CS said electricity bills in Mombasa are expected to go down as they will switch off some diesel generators thus saving fuel that was being used by the Kenya Power plants.
“With geothermal power in Mombasa, we will switch off some of the diesel plants there,” he said.