Wooden electricity poles still the preferred choice for connection

Dr. Ken Tarus PHOTO: WILBERFORCE OKWIRI

Our attention has been drawn to an article, “Phasing out of wooden electricity poles baffling,” authored by Sammy Weya, the Vice Chair of Kenya Forest Growers Association and published in Saturday Standard on April 22.

Kenya Power is currently implementing various electrification projects across the country, that are geared towards increasing rate of access to electricity as well as improving the quality and reliability of supply.

This undertaking underscores enormous opportunities that lie ahead for various players in the electricity sub-sector which include tree farmers and manufacturers of various electrical components.

With rising demand for connecting more households, the need for network extension which include high, medium and low voltage is more urgent and we require more poles -- both wooden and concrete.

Indeed, the Company has continued to procure more wooden poles even as the use of concrete poles increases.

In the last financial year, we procured 165,976 wooden poles from local farmers and companies compared to 64,049 concrete poles purchased during the same period.

During the current financial year, we have so far bought 192,374 wooden poles and 59,460 concrete poles. These poles have been purchased for our normal connectivity and network upgrade programmes.

Opportunity

It will be of interest to Mr Weya to know that, we are implementing Last Mile Connectivity Project under various phases, sponsored by development partners like the African Development Bank, World Bank, European Investment Bank among others.

These projects are fully funded turnkey projects which involve buying of all materials by the various contractors outside the Kenya Power system.

For instance, we are currently undertaking the Last Mile Connectivity Project Phase 1 (LMCP-1) sponsored by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to the tune of Sh13.5 billion. It is targeted at connecting 314,000 households.

Under this phase, we are buying 159,604 wooden poles and 159,598 concrete poles. This is an opportunity that did not exist in the past.

Similarly, under the World Bank Sponsored LMCP Phase 2, we will be purchasing 160,000 wooden poles and 44,000 concrete poles, which is a quarter of the wooden pole order.

From the above trend, we can comfortably conclude that the orders for wooden poles have been rising.

Indeed, we expect the opportunity to rise, going forward, as we bring on board other Last Mile projects.

Whereas, we are using concrete poles for connectivity, the reasons are very valid both in terms of investment, usability and longevity. It is a fact, even admitted by Mr Weya, that concrete poles last longer than wooden poles. As a business decision, the use of concrete poles will lower our recurrent expenditure in due course.

It is worthy to note that concrete poles work better in certain environments hence their preference.

For instance, in the Coastal saline region concrete poles are preferred as they don’t rot due to the high salinity. Similarly, in the arid and semi-arid areas where termites and other burrowing insects exist, concrete poles are ideal.

Replacement of wooden poles with concrete ones is advised by those conditions and therefore concrete poles are supplements rather than substitutes.

Currently, we have 16 suppliers of concrete poles. This is a totally new sub sector. The concrete poles manufacturers use cement, steel and sand and that is a new line of business for our growing cement and steel manufacturers.

These companies have created employment directly and indirectly to thousands of Kenyans; they pay taxes and create wealth.

As a company, we have been undertaking an intensive maintenance and upgrading works to ensure we have reliable and stable power supply which is critical to the functioning of the economy.

As such, Kenya Power does not have any policy of promoting less consumption of wooden poles.

For a long time, we had to import wooden poles as the local supplies could not meet our demand.

In the last few years, through Buy Kenya Build Kenya initiative, we opted to promote local business and I am proud that the number of our suppliers stands at 48 and we no longer import wooden poles.

Sub-standard

However, we are facing a situation that if not addressed urgently, will not augur well for the wooden poles sub sectors. The current type of wooden poles being supplied are sub-standard. They develo cracks very first and are not suitable. To address this challenge, we recently had a meeting with our wooden poles suppliers.

We expect that the deliberation of the meeting will stem this situation before it gets out of hand.

The tree farming sector has witnessed robust investment and entry of new players over the years.

It is therefore critical that all players adhere to the best practices, preservation processes and observance of industry requirements to ensure continued use of wooden poles.

Dr Tarus is the Acting Managing Director and CEO at Kenya Power