Zakhem International Construction, a Lebanese global development firm, won a $490 million contract to construct  fuel pipelines in Kenya.

Construction is expected to commence with the signing of  a formal agreement between Zakhem International and the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), a state-owned firm in charge of the project. The 20-inch, multi-product pipelines will link Mombasa to Nairobi.

Zakhem will also undertake the development of fiber optic cables along the pipelines as well as four pumping stations. The company will update firefighting equipment in Nairobi related to the project.

The state-owned firm expects construction to take 18 months. The existing pipelines, also built by Zakhem in the 1970s, have outlived their life span.

George Zakhem, along with his brother Abdallah,  founded Zakhem Engineers in 1963, in Beirut. Zakhem International is headquartered in Luxembourg. The firm has developed projects in more than 25 countries.