The Last Mile Connectivity Project (LMCP) has received a significant boost with a KShs.1.85 billion grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This funding will enable more than nine thousand households across Nakuru, Kilifi, Kwale, and Nyandarua counties to be connected to the electricity grid under Phase V of the project.
“We expect to connect all the targeted households across the four counties by January 2025. The Company is committed to fast-tracking electricity connections across the country to achieve universal access to electricity. We thank JICA for the grant which will go a long way to enable these households to access electricity and transform their livelihoods,” said Eng. Rosemary Oduor, Kenya Power’s General Manager for Commercial Services and Sales.
The JICA grant follows Kenya Power’s recent signing of twenty-six contracts for the implementation of Phase IV of the Last Mile Connectivity Project, a KShs.27 billion initiative funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), the European Union (EU), and the European Investment Bank (EIB). This phase aims to connect 280,000 new customers to the grid by November 2025.
Since its inception in 2015, the Last Mile Connectivity Project has been instrumental in increasing electricity access across Kenya, aligning with the Kenya National Electrification Strategy. To date, the project has received KShs.73.1 billion in funding and has connected 746,867 households at a cost of KShs.51.1 billion.
The success of the LMCP is largely due to the efficient use of existing distribution transformers, connecting households within a 600-meter radius of each transformer, and installing new transformers to serve more distant households. As a result, Kenya’s electricity access rate has grown to 76%, with 9.6 million households now connected to the grid.
