(Bloomberg) -- Kenya aims to complete a 98-kilometer (61-mile) electricity transmission line to Tanzania by the end of the year, closing a gap in a pan-African supply pool linking 19 nations.

The high-voltage line connecting Isinya in Kenya to the border town of Namanga will allow electricity flow from Ethiopia to as far as Zambia, Kenya’s Energy Secretary Davis Chirchir said. The project is part of the Eastern African Power Pool to connect grids and help nations unload excess electricity to others.

“We are developing networks to support power trade and facilitate power exchange between East Africa and southern Africa,” Chirchir said Tuesday on the sidelines of the Africa Energy Forum in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. 

Another link between Kenya and Uganda will facilitate sales to Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chirchir said. Ethiopia is already supplying Kenya with 200 megawatts, he said. 

A regional pool will also attract fresh investment into power plants as there will be an assured export market, Chirchir said. 

Cross-border energy infrastructure projects will foster regional integration and economic growth, Kenyan President William Ruto said at the conference. 

While his country has potential to generate 30,000 megawatts of wind power and another 10,000 megawatts from geothermal sources, financing for development has been astronomical for low-income countries, he said. 

“We need an international financial system that treats all equally and not disadvantaging others due to risk,” Ruto said.

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