Murang’a water firm eyes biogas from sewage

Murang’a Water and Sanitation Company plans to establish a biogas plant at the town’s sewerage facility for supply to residents by 2021.

Managing director Daniel Ng’ang’a said the plan is at an advanced stage, with the firm also eyeing power generation from biogas in future.

“We will treat the sewerage deposits using microbial and chemical engineering technologies to end up with clean cooking gas that we hope will be 50 per cent cheaper than the liquefied petroleum gases in the market,” he said.

“We hope to generate at least six megawatts of power. We can use half of it to light up nearby homesteads as well as market centres and several roads through street lighting projects. The remainder can be sold to the national grid.”

He said the project could create at least 200 jobs as well as generate revenue for the firm.

County and central governments co-own Kenya’s water companies. While budgetary allocations cater for operational costs, many struggle to raise funds to support sewerage and water systems in counties.

Mr Ng’ang’a said government departments should put in place measures to cut reliance on the Treasury.

“New challenges that demand funding from the same exchequer are coming up every day.

“We should embrace innovation that seeks to generate revenues without necessarily imposing new taxes on our people,” he said.