EASTERN ZONE ARE THE CHAMPS  

 
Eastern zone; a combination of Nairobi Terminal, Pumps Stations numbers 9 (JKIA) and 7 (Sultan Hamud) amassed a total of 67 points to emerge the overall victors in this year’s annual inter-stations sports festivals. The Green Eagles as they are popularly known dethroned Red Hot favourites and last year’s winners Western to second position.

Parading a galaxy of seasoned sportsmen and women, the Eagles soared high in three of the four disciplines competed against namely tug of war, volleyball and athletics. Captained by the bulky Otieno ‘Akudhi’ Wambi and assisted by several musclemen, Eastern made minced meat of Coast in the preliminaries and Western in the final of the tug of war.

In the 200 metres athletics for men, Bernard Mandu clocked less than 20 seconds to cap the race for Eastern Zone. It was a case of experience versus tact in the volleyball finals. Played in the best set of five, Eastern ultimately outsmarted the tactful Central to be crowned the 2008 volleyball winners. The finals that lasted a record one hour was an all ladies affair apart from Chris Makhoha of Eastern Zone. Central were favoured to take the crown after thrashing an all men side of Western 3-1.
In football, all Western needed was a simple mistake by Eastern’s goalkeeper to carry the day. Trailing by 1-0 by half time, Western rallied from behind to beat Eastern 2-1 to be crowned the champions. Miscalculation of a lowly and feebly taken free kick by the Eastern goalkeeper in the 48th minute of the second half rolled into the net to give Western the victory. “It was a case of over confidence. After beating the defending champions Coast, our boys relaxed thinking they were home and dry. That is where we erred” summed Gabriel Okongo, the Eastern captain.
Speaking during the function, KPC managing director Mr. George Okungu said the company will not relent on its support for the event. He said the objective of the event is to bring members of the KPC family together in a relaxed atmosphere devoid of the office officialdom. “KPC management does recognize you (staff) as the most valuable assets that the company has and without whom, all that we have attained as a company could have been a mere pipe dream. Consequently, we shall never tire to lend support for the continuity of the event”. he said.

Chairman Mr. James Kenani said it was imperative that the element of competitiveness be injected in the event. He suggested that regional championships be held to select the best for every region before the company-wide event is held. “I don’t see why regional competitions should not be held before we host the company-wide event with only the cream of every region competing. With this, I suppose we shall have given the event the much needed shot in the arm by raising the level of competition”. he added.
 
The chairman challenged staff to constantly keep healthy by getting involved in sporting activities. “A healthy body falls sick less often. And with this, you will be able to give KPC your maximum and this is what we advocate for all of you”. he said.
Central and Coast were placed third and fourth with 55 and 32 points respectively in the festivals.

PRESIDENT MWAI KIBAKI TO COMMISSION LINE I CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT PROJECT

Line 1 Capacity Enhancement Projects will be commissioned on 26th November, 2008 by His Excellency the President Honourable Mwai Kibaki at Pump Station No. 6 in Makindu.
The project begun in 2007 and has taken over 15 months to complete. Four new pump stations have been built at Konza, Makindu, Manyani and Samburu. The project will increase the white petroleum products flow rate from the current 440,000 litres per hour to 880,000 litres per hour.
The Pump Stations have been constructed by China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation (CPPE).

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PRIME MINISTER VISITS KPC’S KOSF

The line I (Mombasa – Nairobi) capacity enhancement has been lauded as a move in the right direction as it will help alleviate the current shortage of white petroleum products in the country and other the landlocked nations, prime minister Raila Odinga has said.

Raila said he was confident the four new pump stations at Konza, Makindu, Manyani and Samburu will double the product flow-rate as envisaged in the plan. “The line I capacity enhancement is one of the biggest project the government is undertaking in the region and every expectation is that it will meet the purpose for which it is being implemented”. He said.

The prime minister said he was impressed that Kenya Pipeline Company has partnered with other stakeholders to improve the access to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by Kenya’s critical mass. “It is only through such progressive initiatives that we can help save our forests such as Mau from further destruction”. He said deforestation was a great danger to the nations but added that until acceptable, viable and realistic options are given to Kenyans, the trend is likely to continue. “We therefore call upon KPC and all those who are undertaking the LPG project to fastrack the process with a view to availing the alternative as soon as possible”.

Energy assistant minister Mohammed Mahmud expressed optimism that the project will be completed in time. “We at the ministry are monitoring the project very keenly and I am sure it will be completed within the scheduled time”. He said the contractors have equally upped their efforts to see to it that set deadline is met. He praised KPC for putting up the spur line connecting Kipevu and Shimanzi. He said the connection has eased the flow of product to shippers at Shimanzi. “The project has augmented the flow from refineries and shippers have as a result had easy uplifting”. He added. 

KPC managing director George Okungu said the company was dedicated to ensuring that it meets its mandate of transporting and storing white petroleum products for both domestic use and for export. “Once we commission the four new pump stations sometime in September this year, we will be able to accelerate our pumping ability from 440,000 litres an hour to 880,000 liters an hour. This we believe will suffice the current demand as projected in the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) report”. He said. KPC commissioned KIPPRA to undertake a study on the demand for petroleum products in the country and the region. 

On LPG, the MD said once all the logistics were duly done with, the project will commence immediately. “We want to revolutionize the access to LPG in the country. All one will be required to have is a standard cylinders and refilling will be done at customer’s doorsteps. A gas tanker will be roving from one place to the other refilling the cylinders. One would be able to buy gas at any amount”. He said.

In attendance were lands minister James Orengo and his regional development counterpart Fred Gumo and assistant minister for forestry and wildlife Ramadhan Seif Kajembe. Others were lands permanent secretary Dorothy Angote, investment secretary Esther Koimet and Coast provincial commissioner Ernest Munyi.

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Energy Minister Visits KPC Capacity Enhancement Projects

Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi  toured Line I Capacity Enhancement Projects on Friday, 27th June, 2008 to inspect the progress made on the projects.

Mr. Murungi was accompanied by Energy Permanent Secretary, Mr. Patrick Nyoike and members of Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Communication and Public Works.

The project is being implemented by China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation (CPPE) of China and supervised by Petroleum International of India (PII) of India.