HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 424139,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/424139/?format=api",
"text_counter": 203,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "thermal and now on geothermal. This Report has made it clear that we have enough geothermal resources in this country, perhaps, more than any other country in Africa. This is really a resource given to us by God and which we should be able to exploit. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, looking at the Report, we note that while a lot of work is being done on exploration and drilling, it is disturbing that even after some resource has been discovered, we are not able to get investors to exploit the resource. We should be asking ourselves why this is so. Having spent a lot of money exploring and discovering this resource, why are the investors not coming? Why are they coming only in terms of drilling? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, perhaps there will be need – maybe not by this Committee – for researchers and the Ministry concerned to do a comparative study on the cost of exploration. We have been told of the reduced costs to the consumer if we were to exploit geothermal power, but we are not being told what it costs to explore and generate. Geothermal exploration has been going on in this country for many years; it is not a new thing. I recall that even in the 1980s and 1990s, a lot of funds were pumped in for Olkaria I, II, and III. This is perhaps more than what has gone into all hydro electric power generation activities in this country. That is an area that still has to be looked at to see whether it is really cost effective to do geothermal drilling. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also note that the areas where we are operating or exploring geothermal energy are some of the areas which are sensitive ecologically. These areas also have inhabitants there who are vulnerable in so many aspects. As we carry out exploration, it is very important, as my colleagues have said, to really see how the local people or the residents in those areas will benefit. We should also look at how the environmental impact will be. We are looking at areas in Rift Valley like Menengai and Lake Bogoria, for instance, where we have flamingoes and where we have the hot water springs exploration. Will it have an effect on the hot water in Lake Bogoria, therefore growing the algae, which is the food for flamingoes? What will happen with the flamingoes? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I said, we have been in this business of drilling for a long time. Perhaps in the whole of Africa, we are the ones who have had a lot of experience in drilling and exploration. Since we are the leaders in this area, surely, we should not just be looking at doing the business of drilling in Kenya only but we should also now be looking at how to establish companies that will employ our people – who are already experts in this area – to go and exploit such resources in other parts of the world, because it is not just enough to drill. We have had the Japanese and the Chinese coming to Kenya, but maybe they do not even have what we have. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are being told here that some equipment require a lot of maintenance costs. I believe that by maintenance costs, we mean replacement of spares, maybe pipes, materials and so forth, which are imported from countries which have no business in drilling or they do not drill. I think if our industries are supported in this country to manufacture the necessary materials locally, for example, pipes-- We know we have the capacity, for example, to drill water. We have had our own industry, the Numerical Machining Complex (NMC) at the Kenya Railways yard here, which has been very idle. Why do we not use that facility and that capacity to manufacture some of The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}