$5.4M Disbursed Through Kenya Petroleum Technical Assistance Project – Report

The Kenya Petroleum Technical Assistance Project has disbursed $5.4M so far or 9.44% as of June 2016 according to the latest Implementation Status & Results Report by the World Bank which is funding the project.

The World Bank in its report says that although the current disbursement levels remain low progress against the Project Development Objective (PDO) and intermediate results indicators are satisfactory and is starting to gain traction up to senior leadership levels across the Project Beneficiaries.

The Bretton Woods institution adds that it hopes to double KEPTAP disbursement level by the end of CY16 is projected to be at $11.2 million or 22% which is close to expectations.

As of May 1 2016 the project whose main objective is to strengthen the capacity of the government of Kenya ( GoK) to manage its petroleum sector and wealth for sustainable development impacts 260 individuals  from across the government and some civil society organisations (CSOs).

This includes 67 Staff of petroleum sector management institutions who were trained to regulate, manage and monitor compliance in the sector and 152 from Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (MoEP), National Oil Corporation (NOCK), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC), Office of the Attorney General and Department of Justice (OAGDJ) and Petroleum Authority.

Others include 36 staff from the treasury trained to forecast, collect, and manage oil revenues as well as 63 staff from DOSHS and other lead agencies responsible for enforcement of safety and health regulation in the sector (e.g. ERC, Petroleum Authority) that have completed sector-relevant training.

To date the petroleum expert hired by the project submitted an inception report and a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has been set up which constitutes 12 independent experts including WB’s Senior Environmental Specialist.

The procurement of a Gender Assessment consultant by the project monitoring unit is ongoing and it is anticipated that the consultant will be on board before the end of FY 2015/16.

Procurements for the Transaction Advisors, the Communications Campaign, and the Institutional Review are expected to be completed in the next several weeks.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) have been added as Project Beneficiaries.

The report identifies difficulty in implementing a specific transparency and accountability framework due to lack of clarity on who the Government champions would be to drive this forward as a challenge. The mission identified GoK champions from the presidential delivery unit (PDU), the national treasury (NT) and MoEP in collaboration with the private sector and the civil society organizations.

Other challenges include bureaucratic bottlenecks at the ministry such as procurement planning although handling of procurements is becoming more efficient according to the report.

“Overall the KEPTAP project receives a satisfactory rating which is an improvement from the October 2015 rating of moderately satisfactory.”

Components of KEPTAP include:

• Component A: Petroleum Sector – Reforms and Capacity Building:(Cost $36.68 M)
• Component B: Revenue and Investment Management – Reforms and Capacity Building:(Cost $6.65 M)
• Component C: Sustainable Impact of Oil and Gas Industry – Reforms and Capacity Building:(Cost $3.20M)
• Component D: Project Management:(Cost $6.47 M)