Perceived Factors Influencing Sustainability of Last Mile Connectivity Project at Kenya Power- a Case of Nairobi Region, Kenya

Abstract

The sustainability of power utility projects has attracted the attention of policy and academia. Identification of perceived factors that influence the sustainability of projects in the power utility sector is therefore overdue. This study sought to address this gap by examining the perceived factors influencing the sustainability of the last mile connectivity project with a bias to Nairobi region. The study was guided by three objectives; the first objective was to examine the influence of customer base on the sustainability of LMCP, the second objective sought to establish the influence of customer satisfaction on the sustainability of LMCP and the last objective sough to determine the influence of cost of operations on the sustainability of LMCP. The study was guided by three theories, resource-based theory, Organizational Theory and the Sustainability Theory. A descriptive survey design was adopted. The target population was the 436 Kenya Power employees under LMCP project based in Nairobi region. The Kenya Power employees specifically under the LMCP were used as they are directly involved in the project and thus were suitable to respond to the questionnaire. A sample size of 208 employees was used. The study employed simple random sampling to sample the employees of Kenya Power based in the Nairobi region office. Primary data was obtained from the respondents using structured questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS. Correlation and regression analysis were the main inferential statistics techniques employed in this study to test the hypotheses. The results show that customer satisfaction and sustainability of LMCP is positively and significantly related (β=0.096, p=0.010). Customer base and sustainability of LMCP are positively and significantly related (β =0.093, p=0.016). Cost of operations and sustainability of LMCP were positively and significantly related (β =0.097, p=0.015). The study concluded that customer base, Customer satisfaction and Cost of operations significantly influences the performance of the LMCP in the Nairobi region. The study recommends that Kenya Power should invest in ventures that are likely to help them reach more client base. The increase in clients’ base would thus guarantee project sustainability. Kenya Power should invest in enhancing customer satisfaction to reduce instances of disconnections as this negatively affects the sustainability of the project. Lastly, the study further recommends that in identifying potential contractors, the company must ensure that it identifies partners with whom they share vision so as to enable optimum efficiency and effectiveness.