The AfDB approves loan for Kenya projects
The African Development Bank plans to upgrade its office in east Africa’s biggest economy to cover other regional countries and has approved $200 million of projects in Kenya. Yesterday in the capital, Nairobi, The bank’s economist for Kenya Walter Odera said in an interview the funds will be spent on four projects between 2011 and 2013 that are currently being evaluated.
The four projects are a geothermal power project in Menengai, a power transmission system in Nairobi, a road linking Taveta and Voi in southern Kenya to neighboring Tanzania, and another one linking Nairobi and Mombasa to Addis- Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Walter Odera said in the first quarter of next year the Kenyan office will be upgraded to cover Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. He said “Ongoing projects are worth about $600 million.”
The AfDB is one of seven that on Aug. 2 signed a $164 million loan to finance an upgrade of the Kenya-Uganda railway. The Kenya-Uganda railway is operated by Rift Valley Railways Ltd. The AfDB contributed $40 million for the loan. According to Citadel Capital SAE the loan may help boost capacity almost four-fold. Citadel Capital SAE controls 51 percent of the rail operator.