Joe Sang, managing director of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), said that the Kenyan government has removed VAT on cooking gas and subsidized the cost of six-kilogram cylinders to make the fuel more affordable to the citizens of the country.
Sang noted that Kenyan government is considering bids to build LPG plants in Mombasa and Nairobi. In a statement to the source, he said that the US$60mn plant in Nairobi and the US$65mn depot in Mombasa are set to have the capacity to store 25,000 tonnes and 10,000 tonnes of gas, rail and truck loading and bottling facilities respectively.
Most of the Kenyan people use cheaper charcoal, firewood, and kerosene as fuel. According to the World Bank, currently, about 30 percent of Kenyans live in towns, with the number expecting to be quadrupled by 2045, thus enhancing the need of convenient and inadequate LPG storage, distribution and supply network, said the source.
The Energy Regulatory Commission has estimated presently Kenyans consume between 5,000 and 23,750 tonnes of LPF each month. As mentioned by the source, the Kenyan government aims to increase usage to 15kg from the current four kilograms per person by the end of 2030.
In order to achieve this development, Kenya Pipeline Company is seeking to receive finance from development institutions and investors, said Sang to the source.