State to resume low-cost gas project in August

Cooking gas. [Courtesy]

The Government will in August resume the rollout of the Mwananchi Gas Project that is aimed at increasing the number of households using cooking gas.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mining said the project would heavily rely on technology to minimise abuse that had led to the suspension of the programme after the pilot phase.

During the pilot undertaken in Machakos and Kajiado counties, people took advantage of the project with some households taking more than one cylinder.

In other instances, well-off households that did not meet the low-income criteria acquired the gas cylinders.

Under the project branded Gas Yetu, National Oil Corporation of Kenya distributed six-kilogramme cylinders (together with a burner and grill) for Sh2, 000, a discount of about 50 per cent compared to the market rate of Sh4,000, while refills cost Sh800.

The State firm distributed only 6,000 cylinders before the suspension against over a million it had planned to release during the project’s first year.

Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau said the ministry had plugged the loopholes by adopting technology that would ensure only households that fit the criteria benefit during the next phase of the project.

The systems would also be able to guard against one household getting more than one cylinder.