Lamu leaders set conditions to support Sh170billion coal power plant

LAMU, KENYA: Lamu Leaders have now set conditions in order to support the construction of Sh 174 billion coal power plant in the area.
They want the company contracted and the Government to meet the demands as an assurance of developing the area economically.
The leaders led by Lamu County Governor Issa Timammy and Senator Abu Chiaba said that Gulf Energy- Centum consortium must employ 1000 youths from the area and also give an assurance that the county will get a stake from the sale of electricity to Kenya Power before they rally for the construction of the 960 megawatt power plant in the area.
Further, the leaders said that the State will have to compensate the locals who will be displaced from the area designated for the plant.
The leaders who had been invited by Amu Power Company, one of the partner companies in the consortium, for a two days consultative meeting lamented that other people who had been affected by the Lamu Port and South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project had not been compensated since the start of the same four years ago.
"The people from the area must be compensated adequately by the company and also we must have a guarantee that as a county we will draw revenue from the project since it is within our county. The county will be seeking to have a share in the revenue generated from selling the power to Kenya Power and if we cannot get anything as a county we cannot support such a project,'' Timammy said.
Lamu Governor said that the leaders will give their stand about the project next month once the environmental assessment report is released.
The power plant is among other projects by the state that are meant to boost Kenya's economic status by 2030.