Kenya says it has given India’s Adani group contract to build power lines

Kenya has awarded a public-private partnership concession to build power transmission lines to India’s Adani Group and a unit of the African Development Bank, according to an economic advisor to the country’s president.

The concession is worth $1.3 billion, David Ndii, chief economic adviser to President William Ruto, said in a post on X.

“The government through KETRACO has awarded PPP concessions to Adani and Africa50 to build new transmission lines,” Ndii wrote. “They are hiring their project teams. The cost of these transmission lines is $1.3b that we do not have to borrow.”

Africa50 is an infrastructure investment offshoot of the African Development Bank.

Adani Group and the African Development Bank did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside normal business hours.

A separate plan by the Kenyan government to lease the country’s main international to the Adani Group has sparked anger among Kenyans and also triggered a strike by the country’s aviation workers.

The plan involves leasing the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the Adani Group for 30 years, in exchange for $1.85 billion of investment by Adani into the airport’s expansion.

Adani’s group operates seven airports in India and has often faced criticism from Indian opposition parties for winning favours from ruling governments. Indian officials and the Adani group have denied such accusations.

Kenya is struggling with a high debt load accumulated from years of splurging on infrastructure.

A proposal by the government to hike taxes to generate extra money needed for debt repayments sparked deadly protests this summer and forced the government to rescind the proposal.