Kenya has approved a $907 million proposal from Adani Energy Solutions, the power distribution arm of India’s Adani Group, to build transmission lines and substations in Eastern and Western parts of the country.
Adani Energy Solutions, which operates more than 21,000km of power distribution lines, will build 371km of lines and five substations under a Public Private Partnership (PPP). The deal comes as details of another agreement with Adani Airport Holdings to renovate and operate Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) sparked public anger.
“The project development or feasibility study report was completed, submitted, and approved in May 2024, for the project to progress to contract negotiations,” Treasury said in its draft Budget Policy Statement (BPS).
The Adani power transmission project is part of efforts to revamp Kenya’s ageing distribution lines to reduce leakages and frequent outages.
Kenya has turned to PPPs for infrastructure projects as mounting debt cut the government’s spending on new roads, power lines, railways and airports. However, questions over the opacity of the process and the inflated costs of some of the projects have persisted.
For instance, after President William Ruto denied knowledge of the $1.85 billlion JKIA concession, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) confirmed it in an ad on local dailies. The JKIA deal, which Kenya has not withdrawn despite public outcry, will give the Adani Group’s hospitality arm a 30-year concession of the country’s main airport.
Adani Group founder Gautam Adani, one of Asia’s richest men, has been keen to expand his infrastructure empire into new markets as damaging corporate fraud allegations cool off. In 2023, Hindenburg Research claimed that the company engaged in market manipulation and “brazen” fraud.
The allegations, which the company denied, caused Adani’s listed stocks to collapse after a $140 billion sell-off. The stocks have since recovered.
On Monday, the company said it raised $1 billion in an equity sale with bids from US investors, the first since the scandal.
