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The government has revealed plans to install piped cooking gas in Kenyan residential and commercial buildings.
Speaking to KTN, Energy Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau says the plan is in line with the affordable housing program and also aims at doing away with cooking gas cylinders.
PS Kamau also says this would ease the trouble of having to move around with the cylinders.
"We want to do away with cylinders and allow piped gases into houses through prepaid meter systems," says Kamau.
He adds: “We are about to change the legal notice to allow for piped gas to all those low-cost houses. So, you do not have to move around with those cylinders."
"It will come to your kitchen through a prepaid meter if you want or through a metered system that can be billed to the provider,” he notes.
The plan was first mooted in 2011 but no progress was made until last year when the Ministry of Energy published draft regulations for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
The regulations include the process of licensing and regulating companies that will operate the new system in both commercial and residential buildings.
Last year, Petroleum Cabinet Secretary John Munyes indicated it would be hard to implement the project since Kenya lacks natural gas and petroleum.
Munyes explained that the country relies on imported gas from Tanzania and Mozambique, making it hard to sustain the projected.
“It is a good plan but do we have gas reserves in the country? Where are we going to tap the gas from? I think the government must complete its exploration for gas reserves first and if the country has enough gas reserves then this project can be viable,” noted Munyes.