By PAUL MUTUA
Kitui, Kenya: The Ministry of Energy has warned that the country will not realise most of the dreams envisaged in the Vision 2030 economic blueprint if its power production remains low.
Ministry’s Principal Superintending Geologist Joseph Ndolo said Kenya’s industrialisation as envisaged in Vision 2030 is a mirage with the meagre 1000 megawatts of power produced. Ndolo deduced that at least 10,000 megawatts will be needed to spur industrialisation.
Speaking at Kitui, Mr Ndolo said the country needed to explore alternative power generation avenues, observing that the much publicised geothermal wells were too expensive to drill and contributed meagrely to the national power grid.
He added that coal mining venture at the Mui Basin in Kitui County was capable of producing an extra 5,000 megawatts of power.
“Setting up of a plant to produce electricity from the massive coal deposits in Kitui is the biggest step that the country would make towards boosting its power generation levels. Opponents of the project on the premise of personal gain were enemies of countrywide development,” the geologist said.
The team for the ministry toured Ikutha and Mutomo districts in Kitui South constituency.
