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| An Electric bus in Kenya |
Kenya’s electric bus manufacturer BasiGo has secured Ksh 1.3 billion ($10m) from United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to increase local assembly of its buses.
During a tour of the firm’s dedicated electric bus assembly line at the Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KVM) plant in Thika town, Kiambu County, BasiGo Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Jit Bhattacharya said the new facility will boost the firm’s production capacity from the current five buses per month.
“We are currently producing in partnership with Kenya Vehicles Manufacturers five buses per month. Our goal is to be raising that to 20 vehicles per month in the coming months with the overall aim of delivering 1,000 electric buses here in Kenya in the next three years,” said Bhattacharya.
According to BasiGo, the loan facility is also expected to help meet its orders from Nairobi matatu owners. The electric bus manufacturer also anticipate to create at least 300 green manufacturing jobs as a result on the new investment.
“Right now we are very focused on delivering for our Kenyan customers because as you may have seen, BasiGo currently has over 500 reservations for electric buses from Nairobi matatu operators. So our first focus for this manufacturing line is delivering to those customers,” he added.
Speaking during the tour of the assembly line, US Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman said the facility by the America government financing arm is key in driving green industrialization and creation of green jobs in Africa and Kenya, as the two countries target to finalize the Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) this year.
“The STIP has been under negotiation for two years and the two parties target to conclude it by the end of this year. EVs are one of the categories that are covered there and everyone is delighted with EV manufacturing in Kenya. The idea of STIP is that it can be a model for other countries. So if we can get it to work here in Kenya then we can include other African countries in their own STIP,” she said.
BasiGo is also targeting to use the facility to expand its Pay-As-You-Drive model in Nairobi which gives operators access to its charging infrastructure nonstop.
“We have got over $1.2 billion invested in Kenya alone. And then we have projects like BasiGo that is also operating in Rwanda and we have another $1b of regional projects with significant Kenyan access,” said Vibhuti Jain, Regional Managing Director for Africa, DFC.
The investment in BasiGo is part of the Ksh 32.3 billion ($250m) announced by DFC during President Ruto’s US tour in May this year.
By Ronald Owili