Kenya Pipeline Company says a pipe
leakage along its Mombasa-Nairobi line has been fixed, allying fears of a
possible fuel shortage.
The State corporation said the
leakage, reported around the Outering Road near Taj Mall was quickly
detected and repaired on Friday.
“Yes we had some
leakage in the line from Mombasa to Nairobi but being that it was not
active then, the leakage was minimal. We do not expect any significant
damage to the environment yet as the leak was detected early enough and
responded to promptly,” said KPC Managing Director Joe Sang.
“Our
team has since dealt with it and we have them on the ground to keep
monitoring the old line which has been prone to leakages. Supply will go
on normally.”
Another leakage was reported Last year
at Mazeras in what the firm attributed to a “corrosion defect” on the
39-year old line from Mombasa.
The leakage similarly
caused a shortage scare given that the 450km 14-inch diameter pipeline
passes about 830,000 litres per hour.
The line, which is running more than 10 years beyond its lifespan, has been prone to defects, a major one in Thange in 2015.
The spill which has led to the agency spending more
than Sh200 million in clean-up and compensation to the affected
residents also saw the exit of former Acting Managing Director Flora
Okoth.
KPC in February said the 278 residents of Thange
valley in Kibwezi East Constituency who were affected by oil spillage
had submitted claim forms for verification and compensation through
its insurer, CIC Insurance Company.
The firm is
expected to complete a new 20-inch pipeline by end of July to replace
the leakage-prone line. The Sh48 billion line was expected to be
completed in April.
The new line flowing about 1
million litres of fuel per hour is expected to boost flow rate to about
1.9 million liters per hour by 2023 and 2.6 million liters per hour by
2044 to meet demand for petroleum products for Kenya and the region.
Should
the Embakasi leakage be more than the estimated ‘minor’ so far
realised, the impact could be huge in an area where most people use
underground water aid is densely populated.
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