KPC extends pipeline tender deadline

Politics and policy

Mr Charles Tanui, the Kenya Pipeline Company managing director. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU 

By ALLAN ODHIAMBO, aodhiambo@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• The Kenya Pipeline Company adds two weeks for firms to present bids as it moves to accommodate companies that have sought more details of the Nairobi-Mombasa pipeline rehabilitation tender.
• KPC, however, maintained that some of the information sought would be provided to the awarded bidder as classified information.
• The firm said repairs on the pipeline would be scheduled to avoid disruption in the current flow of products from Mombasa.

The Kenya Pipeline Company has extended the period for receiving bids by two weeks as it moves to accommodate firms that have sought more details of the Nairobi-Mombasa pipeline rehabilitation tender.

Bids for the projects were scheduled to close on Thursday, but KPC said a large number of questions raised by firms eyeing the contract forced it to extend the tender window to next month.

“Arising to your esteemed queries and desire for extension of the tender closing date, we are glad to extend it by two weeks with a new closing date of March 12,” said managing director Charles Tanui in a letter to the bidders.

“All other terms and conditions of the tender remain the same.”

The 450km pipeline built in 1976 is marked for major rehabilitation having become prone to raptures, lowering its reliability and safety in the movement of petroleum products from Mombasa to the hinterland.

Most of the bidders demanded a report of the latest in-line inspection of the pipeline using magnetic flux leakage technique which showed that the pipeline has suffered both internal and external metal loss defects which are to be repaired to maintain the pipeline’s structural integrity for safe operation.

Sections of the 14-inch pipeline have suffered major corrosion, leading to partial blockages as well as weakened seams, the inspection revealed.

The bidders also requested KPC to provide a detailed drawing and breakdown of the pipeline thickness from Mombasa to Nairobi. The pipeline has variable thickness that range from 6.35 to 12.7 millimetres.

KPC, however, maintained that some of the information sought would be provided to the awarded bidder as classified information. The firm said repairs on the pipeline would be scheduled to avoid disruption in the current flow of products from Mombasa.

The government plans build a new pipeline to complement and eventually replace the existing one linking Mombasa to Nairobi that has outlived its 30-year lifespan and is prone to ruptures.

Construction of the new pipeline is considered critical in stabilising fuel supply to Nairobi and the rest of the country.

Many of the products from Mombasa have to be trucked to countries in the region, which is slow and unreliable due to the breakdown of the vehicles and damaged roads.

A consortium led by India’s Prashanth Project Ltd has started the Sh4.8 billion ($53 million) expansion of KPC’s fuel terminal in Nairobi to hold more petroleum products when a new pipeline from Mombasa becomes operational.

The project involves building four storage tanks with a total capacity of 133.52 million litres — an equivalent of 22 per cent of KPC’s total national capacity of 612.32 million litres.