Kenya Power has commenced the relocation of power lines between Mlolongo in Mombasa road and James Gicchuru road to pave way for the construction of 27.1 kilometre long Nairobi Express way.
The exercise is being carried out at a cost of ksh 1.08 billion which will be met by the Kenya Nationals Highway Authority (KENHA).
Kenya Power says it is keen on completing the exercise with minimal interruptions to power supply.
“When executing projects of this magnitude, some of the customers within the estates along the Expressway corridor will experience interruptions in power supply. However, the company is planning to minimize power interruptions by leveraging the Live Maintenance technology which relocates most of the lines without switching off supply.” Said Kenya Power’s Managing Director and CEO, Benrad Ngugi.
The scope of work will involve the relocation of a combined 106 kilometers of high voltage (66kv), medium voltage (11kv) and low voltage cables as well as 28 transformers serving the area.
As at today, Kenya Power has covered 17kilometres of the Expressway. Once completed, 40.6kilometres of the network will pass underground
“We aim to keep the lights on even as we carry out this critical exercise. We will ensure that we relocate as much network as possible using our Live Maintenance team to minimize interruption. Where it will be inevitable to switch off supply, we are scheduling interruptions and communicating the plan to customers,” said Ngugi.
The exercise begun in September will be completed at the end of November this year. It is being carried out by a team of 60 employees from Kenya Power and 4 external underground cabling contractors.