Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Energy and Petroleum Charles Keter with Energy Permanent Secretary Eng. Joseph Njoroge and Petroleum Permanent Secretary Andrew Kamau listen to Julius Ouma, maintenance Engineer as he explains the fueling process lon November 10,2016.

The construction of Kenya Pipeline Company’s Sh48 billion Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline will be completed by April 2017, the management has said.

“The overall project completion is at 68 per cent, while the construction of the actual pipeline is 90 per cent complete. The focus now is on the construction and installation of equipment at the new pump stations”, managing director Joe Sang said in a statement on Friday.

He said the contractor, Zakhem International, is working around the clock to deliver a high quality and safe pipeline for Kenya and the region.

“We are very pleased to announce that we are in the final phase of the construction of the pipeline and we anticipate a smooth transition into the operationalisation phase”, Sang said.

KPC has scheduled a meeting with Zakhem International this week to appraise the status of the project.

Sang said the project will enhance security of petroleum supply for the country and the region.

The country’s petroleum demand has grown to an average 5.7 billion litres in 2016 up from four billion litres in 2013, pegged on increased economic activities.

“Line five will adequately serve the country’s petroleum demand, which is projected to be 6.8 billion litres in 2020”, Sang said.

The 450km 20-inch diameter Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline (line 5 ) is a Vision 2030 flagship project to replace the current 38-year old Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline.

The pipeline is complete with four new pump stations in Changamwe, Maungu, Mtito Andei and Sultan Hamud and two booster pumps in Kipevu.

Phase one of the new pipeline will have an installed flow rate of one million litres per hour by 2017, phase two 1.9 million litres per hour by 2023, and phase three will be 2.6 million litres per hour by 2044.

The project is designed to enhance KPC’s pipeline devolution plan into the counties by increasing product availability in Nairobi that will feed spur lines into Western Kenya, Central Kenya, Rift Valley and South Nyanza regions. The line will remove about 700 trucks from the roads.

This article is courtesy http://www.the-star.co.ke / http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/12/05/sh48bn-new-pipeline-is-90-complete-kpc_c1467601 and written by WEITERE MWITA @mwitamartin.