Nairobi, Kenya — President William Ruto has directed the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) to stop borrowing for transmission infrastructure and instead rely exclusively on Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to finance future power line projects.
Speaking during a high-level engagement with the agency’s board, President Ruto issued a firm directive:
Forget about the loans. We are not going to borrow money to build transmission lines, we’ll use PPP.
The President said the shift is aimed at reducing Kenya’s rising debt burden while accelerating the expansion of critical energy infrastructure needed to strengthen electricity transmission and distribution across the country.
Shift in Energy Infrastructure Financing
The directive signals a major policy change in how Kenya funds large-scale power projects, with the government increasingly turning to private capital to bridge infrastructure gaps.
Kenya has already tested the PPP model in the energy sector, including a US$311 million (KSh 40.4 billion) agreement signed in December 2025 between KETRACO, Africa50, and India’s Power Grid Corporation for the development of the Lessos–Loosuk and Kibos–Kakamega–Musaga transmission lines.
Officials say the model is expected to attract long-term investors while easing pressure on public finances, especially as the country grapples with debt servicing obligations.
Boost for Power Expansion Plans
Energy sector stakeholders say the move could accelerate the rollout of new transmission lines needed to evacuate electricity from generation plants, reduce system losses, and improve grid reliability.
The Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) has identified energy infrastructure as a key pillar of economic growth, with PPPs now positioned as the preferred financing structure for capital-intensive projects.
KETRACO is expected to realign its project pipeline in line with the presidential directive, with further announcements on upcoming PPP-backed transmission projects expected in the coming weeks.
