By REUTERS
In Summary
- The facility to build seven small hydro-dams is expected to cut reliance on the national grid and trim factory costs.
The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has signed a
Sh5.6 billion ($55 million) syndicated loan to build seven small
hydro-dams to cut reliance on the national grid and trim factory costs,
the KTDA said on Thursday.
The tea agency accounts for about 60 per cent of tea output
in Kenya, the world's leading exporter of black tea - a major foreign
exchange earner for East Africa's biggest economy.
The loan was arranged by the World Bank's private
sector lending arm International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Global
Agriculture and Food Security Program, as well as French and Dutch
development banks Proparco and FMO.
KTDA chief executive Lerionka Tiampati said
construction of three hydropower projects were at an advanced stage and
with the new funding construction will commence on four more small hydro
power stations in 2016.
"The funding is in line with KTDA's long-term
strategy to ensure that tea factories have access to alternative
renewable forms of energy that will reduce operational costs in
factories," KTDA added in a statement.
KTDA said the excess power generated will be sold to the national grid, providing farmers with an additional revenue stream.
Kenya experienced drought early this year which
affected the output of tea, while processing factories received fewer
deliveries. Tea production in Kenya is expected to improve in the last
quarter of the year due to enhanced rains in most key growing areas.
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