Leakages and Illegal Siphoning of Oil on Mombasa-Nairobi Line to Cost Taxpayers 2B

Leakages and illegal siphoning of oil on the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) line running from Mombasa to Nairobi is set to cost the taxpayer a whopping 2 billion shillings.

The oil leakages are said to be valued in billions of shillings, forcing the KPC to source for a contractor to install a leak detection system on the line.

One case of oil leakages was in 2019 when at least 194,000 litres of petroleum products belonging to oil marketing companies were lost during a spillage in Makueni county at Kiboko.

During construction of the 450-kilometer pipeline, Lebanese firm Zakhem International Construction (ZIC) which was hired by KPC to build the line proposed to install a leakage detection system but KPC opposed the proposal, deeming it not sensible.

Constructing the pipeline cost the KPC a total of 61 billion shillings.

Zakhem International Construction charged KPC 49 billion shillings for construction while Shengli Engineering and Consulting Company (SLECC), a Chinese company charged 12 billion shillings to supervise the construction of the pipeline.

At the time of construction when Zakhem wanted to install a leakage detection system, the construction company would have charged KPC an extra 400 million shillings on top of the 49 billion shillings charged.

Now, the installation of the leakage detection system will cost KPC 2 billion shillings, an amount that will be forced upon Kenyan taxpayers.

The National Assembly Energy Committee is currently investigating the decision by KPC to oppose the installation of the leakage detection system.