Business in Nakuru's Pipeline area has started to pick up after Kenya Pipeline agreed to review a promotional tariff meant to run for six months following the concerns from the locals and the business community.
KPC had been faulted for its decision to review fuel tariffs at the Nakuru depot, which have led to relocation of export fuel services to Eldoret and Kisumu depots early last year.
The move by fuel exporters to shift the depot came after the government standardized fuel tariffs for all depots to Sh56 per litre.
Officials at KPC had announced its move to put in place measures that would see recapturing of the regional market that had been lost to countries like Tanzania. One of the measures was move the Nakuru depot to Eldoret and Kisumu.
Initially, the tariff set for Nakuru was Sh45 per litre and Sh59 for Kisumu.
However, in July 2017, due to the complaints, KPC lowered the tarrifs, the move has seen the town's life rekindle.
“Effects of the decision was most felt by the business community operating around the depot. Few export tankers were left drawing fuel from the Nakuru depot, leaving it to mostly local fuel dealers,” said James Munene, the Chairman of Pipeline Business Community.
He added that locals said many hotels have opened after they had counted losses while others closed down since their business had been affected as majority of their customers were truck drivers but business has since gone down.
“We have started receiving back our clients from East African countries, Eastern DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and Northern Tanzania.
Munene also the Manager of Nakubreeze hotel in Piepeline said that of the promotional tariff means that some oil marketing companies (OMCs) have reverted to picking product from Nakuru depot because the current tariff is lower than the one charged in Kisumu and Eldoret.
KPC company has invested almost Sh60 billion in massive infrastructural projects around the country to enhance the availability of fuel in Kenya and the neighbouring countries.
The projects include the new Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline (Line Five), the storage tanks in Nairobi Terminal and the Kisumu Oil Jetty all of which set for completion within the shortest period possible.
“We are happy that the tariff was reviewed. We are starting to see booming business. We can now pay school fees for our children and feed our families,” said Ben Kerongo, a resident in the area.