The government is planning to phase out the traditional cylinder cooking gas and replace it with piped cooking gas.
This has been revealed by the Ministry of Energy Principle Secretary Andrew Kamau. While speaking during a recent interview on KTN, Mr. Kamau said that this project will be realised through the government’s affordable housing project.
The gas will come directly to the kitchen through a pipe system.
“We are about to change the legal notice to allow for piped gas to all those low cost housing. 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,” said Mr Kamau.
The plan, though, has raised concerns over fire breakouts.
There have been concerns too that the government is biting more than it can chew by providing things that are not basic necessities.
In August 2017 the Energy Regulatory Commission announced that it was working on a plan that would require housing developers of gated communities to include piped gas systems in their constructions — similar to other essential services such as electricity and water systems.
The energy regulator also said that the real estate developers would be obligated to have infrastructure to distribute the gas within the housing projects, including a central bulk storage facility and pipes to individual houses which would be fitted with metres to measure the monthly consumption of gas.
The system would be operated by a liquefied petroleum gas marketer, which in addition to refilling gas would also be charged with safety of the system.
However, in 2018 the plan was halted due to lack of appropriate infrastructure and lack of gas reserves.
Cooking gas in Kenya is currently sold in cylinders ranging from 3kg to 50kg. Piped gas is commonly used in South Africa and Egypt.