By George Mwangi 
   Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

London-listed Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN) has extended a $190 million long-term loan to Kenya's national electricity distributor to implement infrastructure projects, Kenya Power said.

The move comes after the monopoly utility had sought expressions of interest from local and international financial institutions toward the end of last year for a loan of between seven and 10 years, Kenya Power Managing Director and Chief Executive Ben Chumo said in a statement Wednesday.

The company will use the funds to expand and upgrade Kenya's electricity network in readiness for expected additional generating capacity of 5,000 megawatts over the next 40 months, Mr. Chumo said.

Only 32% of Kenya's population is connected to the national grid, and high electricity bills and unreliable supply have been scaring away investors, said Davis Chirchir, cabinet secretary for energy and petroleum.

The distribution network needs to be able to accommodate the million new customers expected to be connected this financial year and those to come later, including industrial, commercial and domestic users, Mr. Chumo said.

Kenya produces 1,341 megawatts of electricity, largely from hydropower, and it plans to increase geothermal and wind power generation while reducing costly thermal generation.

Write to George Mwangi at realtimedesklondon@dowjones.com

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