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Kenyan postelection violence
delays completion of $110m Kenya–Uganda oil pipeline
By: John Njiraini
Published: 15 Feb 08
Completion of the $110-million Kenya–Uganda oil pipeline project,
initially scheduled for the third quarter of this year, is now
expected in 2009, because of violent clashes in Kenya, following
the controversial re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.
The clashes, mostly in western Kenya, have prompted the contractor
to refrain from deploying workers.
“We cannot send our experts and contractors to [construction sites]
because some of them might be targeted because of their ethnicity,”
says Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) MD George Okungu.
Installation of the 320-km oil pipeline, from Eldoret, in Kenya,
to Kampala, in Uganda, is already behind schedule, and could now
be delayed by up to a year.
The pipeline will be capable of transporting 220 000 t/h.
“The project will, no doubt , be delayed as its commencement is
dependent on the political stability of the country,” Okungu adds.
Tamoil East Africa, of Libya, a subsidiary of Oilinvest, of the
Neth-erlands, is undertaking the $110-million project.
The pipeline is supposed to ease the transportation of oil
products to landlocked countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and
parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Currently, these countries rely on road transport, which has also
been paralysed. Trucks transporting oil products to Uganda have
been grounded in various depots in Rift Valley, Western and Nyanza
provinces, causing fuel shortages in Uganda.
Okungu says KPC has lost more than $1,4-million in revenue owing
to the crisis.
“We are finding it hard to meet our obligation to supply oil to
clients in the neighbouring countries,” he says.
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