POWERING THE ECONOMY
Quest For 24 Hour Economy
To Boost Industrial
Productivity And Create Jobs
Gains Momentum
By Dr. Ken Tarus
O
ne of the cardinal function of
Governments world over is to
provide a conducive environment
for commercial businesses to thrive. This
in turn leads to employment creation,
generation of wealth, tax and overall
development of the people. To mitigate this, governments have had to
shoulder some of the initial costs to ensure
the final cost is bearable to the consumers
and the economy as a whole. Indeed, this
is even more crucial to businesses for them
to be competitive both at the domestic
and international markets.
Among the critical infrastructural facilities
government provides to enable the above
is electricity. Electricity is literally the
heartbeat of an economy and just like the
human body cannot function without the
heart, so is an economy. In the case of Kenya, the government
has been active in providing resources
to enhance generation especially from
renewable sources such as geothermal.
Similarly, transmission and distribution
have also been funded to ensure power is
evacuated and supplied across the country.
Electricity generation, transmission and
eventual distribution is capital intensive
and it may not be feasible to fully provide
it on commercial terms without having
to raise the final cost to be borne by the
consumer.
The need to spur a 24–hour economy is
gaining momentum as the country seeks