NAIROBI, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Thursday launched a World Bank-backed strategy to help achieve universal energy access by 2022.

Charles Keter, cabinet secretary of the Ministry of Energy, told at an energy forum in Nairobi that the Kenya's National Electrification Strategy (KNES) will provide a road map to connect 5 million households to electricity through the grid and off-grid solutions.

"Based on estimates, the cost of universal access to electricity both from public and private financing is approximately 281 billion Kenyan shillings (2.75 billion U.S. dollars)," Keter said.

The KNES was prepared with support from the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) which is a partnership between the World Bank Group and 18 partners to help low and middle-income countries reduce poverty and boost growth, through environmentally sustainable energy solutions.

Alongside the KNES, the government also launched the Electricity Sector Investment Prospectus which presents the investment opportunities in the energy sector over the next five years and is valued at about 14.8 billion dollars.

Keter said that the prospectus will help investors and financiers to identify suitable project opportunities and covers opportunities in power generation, transmission, distribution, off-grid electrification, mini-grids and solar systems for homes and institutions.

He noted that achieving universal access will require 2.3 billion dollars of public investment in infrastructure and another 458 million dollars of private investment in solar home systems for households that are unlikely to be served by the national grid or small mini-grids.

The Kenyan official said that currently 75 percent of the population has access to electricity, up from 32 percent in 2014.

"So, the strategy provides guidelines to ensure that remaining 25 percent of the population who live in remote areas are connected to electricity," he added.

The Ministry of Energy is prioritizing electricity access because it has identified the energy sector as the key enabler of achieving President Uhuru Kenyatta's Big Four agenda as well as the national blueprint - Kenya Vision 2030.

According to Keter, some 1.96 million households will be connected to electricity through standalone solar home systems while another 35,000 connections will be through 121 new mini-grids to serve housing clusters too distant from the network.

Felipe Jaramillo, country director at theWorld Bank said that Kenya is one of Africa's most vibrant economies, and has achieved substantial progress in economic, social, and human development over the past decade, including attaining middle-income status in 2014.

Jaramillo said that in parallel with economic growth, Kenya has also made significant strides in electrification because its Last-Mile Connectivity Program has connected about 1.1 million new consumers annually in the last three years on an average, and Kenya Power, the Kenyan utility, presently has about 6.7 million customers. Enditem

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