President William Ruto has asked the Ministry of Energy, led by Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, to address the issue of constant power outages.

After chairing a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the president said regular power disruptions harmed Kenya's investment profile.

PHOTO | COURTESY President Ruto

According to a State House dispatch, the Cabinet extensively examined the issue of power outages and decided that the transmission line system should be unbundled so that power outages in one section of the country do not affect the entire country.

The Bomet-Narok line will be built with €400 million (Ksh.66 billion) from the African Development Bank to address transmission line overloading, which causes outages.

Due to legal problems, the line, which was funded in 2016, has not been completed.

In addition, a €1.2 billion (Ksh.200 billion) KenGen solar power plant near the Seven Forks Dam will supply backup power in the event of a power outage.

PHOTO | COURTESY President Ruto

The 42MW project's massive battery storage kicks in when the power goes out. It also aids in conserving hydropower at the Seven Forks Dam's five dams.

The Cabinet was informed that the negotiations of the Kenya-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement had concluded and that the agreement would be signed next week.

PHOTO | COURTESY President Ruto

The accord, which increases Kenya's market access to the European Union, will also be presented to Parliament for confirmation.

The pact is the most ambitious European Union agreement with any African country regarding climate protection and labor rights. The negotiations began in 2002, and the agreement has been in effect since then. Efforts to get the East African Community countries signed together failed in 2016.