A controversy-ridden coal mining pro- ject in Kenya may finally kick off after a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that had filed a court application seeking to stop the project withdrew it.
The Regional Institute for Social Enterprise, which had filed the suit on behalf of a Kitui resident, has unconditionally withdrawn the application, paving the way for Chinese firm Fenxi Mining Group to embark on mining in blocks C and D, in the Mui basin, some 180 km north-east of Nairobi.
The decision to withdraw the application also paves the way for Kenyan authorities to award the concession contract for Block A and Block B.
“It is time the coal project took off the ground. Kenya will benefit a great deal from the project and that is why we have decided to terminate the case,” says Boniface Kaburu, a director of the NGO.
Fenxi Mining can now embark on coal mining and the construction of a 140 MW coal-powered electricity plant. Blocks C and D are estimated to host more than 400- million tons of coal reserves.
The withdrawal of the application also means that the Kenya government can now unveil the winning bidder or bidders for Block A and Block B – a total of nine com- panies submitted bids for the two blocks.
The firms that expressed interest in Block A and Block B and were picked in the prequalifying process include China National Electric Engineering, Harbin Electric International of China Coal Technology & Engineering and HTG Development Group Corporation. The other bidders include several Indian firms, including Madhucon Projects, JSE Energy, Zhongmei Engineering Group, Avic International Holding Corporation, Tata Power Company and Jindal Steel & Power.
All the firms complied with the requirement that they must have a capital base of $100-million and a yearly turnover of more than $100-million. They also demonstrated the ability to raise over $200-million to invest in the project, which covers an area of 239 km2.
Kenya, East Africa’s leading economy, plans to demarcate about 30 new exploration blocks that will be concenssioned to investors.
The Mui basin, where the four blocks are located, covers an area of 490.5 km2, with government surveys showing that blocks C and D only host more than 400-million tons of coal reserves valued at $40-billion.