Construction of the Nairobi-Mombasa oil pipeline is 80 per cent complete ahead of its completion end of April. Zakhem International, the contractor of the project has begun installation works of 8 mainline pumps. Each of the line’s 4 stations (Maungu, Mtito Andei, Sultan Hamud and Changamwe) will have 2 mainline pumps each.
Four transformers for Line 5 are also in the country and installation works are underway. The transformers will be installed in the line’s 4 pump stations in Maungu, Mtito Andei, Sultan Hamud and Changamwe.
The new line once finalized is projected to meet country’s demand to 6.8 billion litres in 2020 and increase product availability in Nairobi that will feed into spur lines into Western Kenya, Central Kenya, Rift Valley and South Nyanza regions.
Also, the line will improve the reliability of fuel supply to the export market of Uganda, Rwanda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which in 2010 stood at 2.4 billion litres but has since risen to 3.5 billion litres in 2016. To boost safety, the line will transport one million litres per hour flow rate thus minimal tanker accidents, fuel fires, siphoning on our roads hence saving lives and conserving our environment.
KPC is replacing the existing Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline that has been in operation for 38 years. A Vision 2030 flagship project, the construction of the 20 inch diameter 450km pipeline will ensure sustained, reliable and efficient transportation of petroleum products in the region and meet demand in the next 30 years. The pipeline will have an installed flow rate of 1 million litres per hour in phase one.
