Nairobi,
Monday, April 23, 2024
KNA by Viviene Simwa
The Government has embarked on a project, that targets to assist five thousand (5,000) public learning institutions, including secondary schools, TVETs, and Teachers’ Training Colleges, switch from the use of firewood to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Currently the project dubbed Enhanced Liquefied Petroleum Gas Uptake Project (ELUP), is being piloted in 20 learning institutions drawn from across the eight regions in the country.
According to Principal Secretary (PS), State Department for Petroleum, Mr. Mohamed Liban, the implementation of the project was on course and actual works is expected to commence by June this year.
The PS revealed that, in the long run the project whose management is being spearheaded by the State Department for Petroleum within the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, targets to assist all public institutions switch from the use of firewood for cooking to LPG.
Speaking during a sensitization workshop for stakeholders held at the Kenya School of Government, Kabete over the weekend, Mr Liban added the initiative was part of the grand measures that supports forest conservation and climate mitigation efforts.
He said once operational, ELUP will contribute to assisting Kenya increase its LPG consumption from 7.5 kg to 15kg per capita per year, as well as enhance LPG penetration from 24 percent to 70 percent by 2028.
Through it, the State Department for Petroleum will support the installation of storage tanks and accessories, civil works and housing cages, retro-fitting of cook-stoves, provision of seed gas and training of users in the identified learning institutions.
Participants at the workshop were Heads of Secondary Schools and TVET intuitions and representatives of the Boards from the participating institutions.
The PS also said the initiative also aimed at contributing to the fulfillment of the government’s Bottom-Up Transformation Agenda (BETA) of improving the quality of life of Kenyans.
He said in addition to learning institutions, the project will later cover other institutions including Public Hospitals, National Youth Colleges and Correctional Institutions.
Mr. Liban revealed that ELUP will further support the distribution of LPG cylinders to low income household, execute and operationalize the importation of LPG through the Open Tender System Framework, develop common user bulk LPG infrastructure as well as develop the policy, legal and regulatory framework.
The PS said in low income households, the project will distribute 6kg LPG cylinders, including accessories and initial gas at subsidized costs with the benefiting families expected to meet the subsequent cost of re-filling their gas cylinders.
He noted the project aims to reach 4.5 million low income earners and the process of identifying the beneficiaries is on-going regretting close to 14,000 deaths in Kenya annually is attributed to indoor air pollution from the use of wood.
The PS said guidelines supporting the installation of LPG in public institutions have also been prepared in line with the Petroleum (LPG) Regulations of 2019 and legal notice No.100 of 2019.
The guidelines provide for licensing LPG Bulk cylinder and piping. It also covers refills, operations and maintenance.
Other aspects include safety measures, reporting and inspections.
Participants appreciated the initiative by the government, which they noted will go a long way towards improving operations in learning institutions.
Courtesy; KNA
