Kenya bets on study to resolve Gibe III power project row

“This court be pleased to issue an order of prohibiting the Kenya government and Kenya Power and Lighting Company from entering into any further agreements with the government of Ethiopia relating to the proposed purchase of 500 megawatts from Gibe 111 project on Lake Turkana,” one of the conservation groups, Friends of Lake Turkana Trust, said in a court application in June while seeking to have the project banned.

They claimed that the dam would affect close to 300,000 Kenyans whose livelihoods depend on the lake.

Across the border another lobby, Survival International, also claimed that the dam would leave another 200,000 people in Ethiopia dependent on aid.

“We hope that the conclusion of the new independent environmental impact assessment studies will allow us to proceed with the project that promises to address our energy woes in the region,” Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi told the regional meeting.

“We are already in discussion with Ethiopia for possible power trade through the Gibe III hydropower project,” Mr Nyoike said.

Irrespective of the outcome of the new audits on Gibe III, Kenya still stands to benefit from dealings with Ethiopia, he said.

“Even without the disputed GibeIII phase of the project Ethiopia still has about 1,000megawatts of surplus power which we can readily tap for use in Kenya,” he said.

Feasibility study

Before its renewed focus on Ethiopia, Kenya had been looking up to interconnection with neighbouring Tanzania as a means of tapping into the Southern Africa power pool.

A feasibility study done by the Dutch Oret Programme for interconnection to the pool proposed that the line runs from a green field around Arusha to Embakasi in Nairobi.

But concerns over Tanzania’s ability to sustain a steady supply of power amid dropping water levels in its dams has lately made Kenya to change direction.

“Generally, Tanzania and other southern nations are experiencing energy problems of their own and it would not be wise to connect to their grids.... it would be foolhardy to put up systems that will stay idle with no power to run through them,” Mr Nyoike told Business Daily in a past interview.