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Economic Growth
- New hotel room developments in Kenya have dropped.
- With continued signing activity (19 hotels with about 5,200 rooms in 2023) Egypt now accounts for 28 per cent of the total pipeline.
- When it comes to hotels under construction, Marriott International leads the way, with 138 hotels (15,011 rooms) currently being built.
Kenya has ranked seventh in Africa among the countries with the highest number of hotel room developments by international hotel chains, a drop from position five in 2022.
This is according to the latest survey by Lagos-based W Hospitality Group, in association with the Africa Hospitality Investment Forum (AHIF). From the survey, Kenya has 31 hotels with a total of 4,268 rooms on the pipeline with an average room size in these hotels is approximately 138 square feet.
North Africa continues to dominate the planned supply, with Morocco and Egypt together comprising almost 31 per cent of the …
- The Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) is directly importing petroleum products from Vitol Bahrain, aiming to reduce reliance on Kenyan firms and mitigate high fuel prices.
- UNOC’s direct importation and sale of fuel to OMCs in Tanzania and Uganda is a significant step towards fostering stronger regional ties, promoting economic growth, and ensuring energy security.
Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) has started the sale of petroleum products to oil marketing companies in both Uganda and Tanzania.
This is part of a broader strategy to test the waters before UNOC embarks on a direct importation agreement with the global oil titan, Vitol Bahrain. This maneuver signals a new era in East Africa’s energy dynamics, especially following a cooling of relations between Uganda and Kenya over fuel supply mechanisms.
Breaking New Ground: Uganda National Oil Company Direct Importation Deal
For years, Uganda’s fuel supply chain was heavily dependent on Kenyan OMCs. However, …
- The joint development of the Green Giant Project will expedite the construction of the first 200MW phase of the investment.
- Mini-grids account for more than half of all new connections in DRC.
- The agreement represents a significant milestone in the collaborative efforts between SkyPower, AFC, and the DRC.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and SkyPower Global have entered into a joint development agreement for the first phase of SkyPower’s Green Giant project in the mineral-rich country.
The move is meant to promote the use of renewable energy in the Eastern African state. This 200MW Phase one is a crucial step towards achieving the landmark 1,000MW Solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed between SkyPower and the DRC’s state-owned utility, Société Nationale d’Electricité (SNEL).
The partnership brings together SkyPower’s extensive experience in developing large-scale solar projects and AFC’s successful track record of de-risking and funding well-structured power …
The Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP) has embarked on testing cookstoves and clean cooking technologies in two counties under the Project.
The move is in tandem with International Standard for testing cookstoves to ensure that the cookstoves sold in these counties meet the high-quality standards.
The cookstove testing initiative is being implemented under KOSAP’s Clean Cooking Solutions Challenge Results-Based Facility (CCS RBF).
The CCS RBF is a Ksh 500 million incentive fund established as a subcomponent of KOSAP to establish sustainable supply chains of higher tier cookstoves and cleaner cooking fuels in KOSAP Service Territories (KSTs), where at present, the use of clean, and efficient cookstoves is low. International Standards for testing cookstoves will be used to ensure that the cookstoves sold in these counties meet high-quality standards.
Read: Woman in Tanzania shares her secret in cookstove-making
The stove testing will be conducted using controlled cooking tests whereby cooks …
Mining activities are some of the most power-intensive globally, with electricity required to operate haul trucks, earth-movers, underground excavators, blasting tools and mining drills accounting for up to 40% of a company’s total expenditures. Regionally, southern Africa is forecast to elicit some of the largest power requirements in mining on the continent – led by South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia – and followed by Central and West Africa. With COVID-19 leading to production site shutdowns, loss of output and volatile commodity prices, the ability to reduce operational expenditures – via electricity costs – has risen to the forefront of mining firms’ agendas.
And yet there are two major impediments to accessing sufficient quantities of low-cost electricity. First, Africa is home to some of the lowest electricity access rates globally, with a lack of infrastructure, unreliable grids and frequent blackouts posing a major threat to output and production efficiencies. The Democratic …
The future of Africa is fenced around its ability to utilize renewable energy potential. Harnessed effectively, Africa stands to become the next world powerhouse and take over energy production once and for all.
In this context, the African sun has plenty of potential to transform the continent’s energy generation landscape. Africa is endowed with plenty of renewable energy, hydropower and natural gas.
The International Energy Agency points to Africa as a region harbouring nearly 17 per cent of the global population but it only holds four per cent of global power supply investment. …
Africa is expected to recover from its worst recession in half a century and reach 3.4 per cent growth in 2021.
This growth which is expected to defy the effects of increasing debt burden and the Covid-19 pandemic does not however promise to wipe out poverty but instead an estimated 39 million more Africans could possibly slip into extreme poverty this year in addition to the about 30 million who were pushed into extreme poverty in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.…
Ghana is estimated to have produced about 812 thousand tonnes of cocoa beans in 2018/2019.…
The St. Regis Almasa will play a significant role in giving the tourism industry the much-needed support and will become the new destination for luxury hospitality in Egypt.…
