Kenya’s Ruto Defends Adani Investment That Stoked Nation’s Anger

(Bloomberg) -- Kenyan President William Ruto backed a decision by his government to accept private capital from Adani Group, which sparked protests and irked the public because of the opacity of some of the deals.

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Earlier in the month, Kenya said it had signed a $736 million deal with Adani Energy Solutions Ltd. for power-transmission lines, just days after plans to lease its biggest airport to another unit of the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate led to protests.

A Kenyan court suspended the airport deal until it rules on the matter. The transaction with the energy company will involve financing, constructing, operating and maintaining the transmission lines for 30 years.

“We would have otherwise gone to borrow and burdened the people of Kenya,” Ruto said while commissioning a 35-megawatt, privately owned geothermal plant. “We will pay for that transmission line using a willing charge that has been negotiated and it is important for us as a nation to appreciate that a partnership between us and the private sector gives us a win-win outcome.”

Ruto’s comments are his first on the controversial deals.

The president cited the inflow of foreign capital into some electricity-generation and road-construction projects as examples of much-needed investment for the East African economy.

“We don’t want to burden the people of Kenya with either additional taxes or additional loans when the private sector can do it much more efficiently,” he said.

Kenyan finances have become strained from mounting debt repayments and underperforming revenue collection. The president was compelled to abandon plans to introduce more than $2 billion of new taxes earlier this year after thousands of Kenyans took to the street to protest those measures. At least 60 people were killed.

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