Six projects worth 500 billion Shillings ($4.11 billion) will be fast-tracked in Kenya under a new pact signed by President William Ruto and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of COP27, Business Daily newspaper reported.

The deal includes a new multipurpose dam, the country’s second expensive infrastructure project, costing 425 billion Shillings. The dam was initially estimated to cost about 220 billion shillings.

Led by UK engineering firm GBM, the project will include both a power purchase agreement for clean energy and a water purchase agreement for agricultural irrigation, the UK government said in a statement.

The deal will also see a 2.5 billion Shillings investment in Menengai Geothermal, a 35MW geothermal project by Geothermal Development Company and UK’s Globeleq. The project has already secured a power purchase agreement with Kenya Power.

In addition, The agreement will also fast-track the Nairobi Railway City with a 5 billion shillings investment, which includes the regeneration of central Nairobi, anchored on a new central rail station connected to bus rapid transit, the newspaper said.

(Editing by seban.scaria@lseg.com)