AfDB supports National Treasury’s push for additional funding to complete Thwake Dam

By MyGov Reporter

The African Development Bank (AfDB) the National Treasury’s move to seek additional funds for the completion of the Thwake Multipurpose Dam whose first phase is 94 per cent complete.

Speaking during an implementation support mission exit meeting, Thwake Multipurpose Water Development Program Task Manager at AfDB Nancy Ogal further urged the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation top officials to urgently hold a high-level strategy meeting with the contractor- the China Gezhouba Group Corporation, and the supervising consultant, to fast-track all pending issues which are affecting the completion of the Vision 2030 project.

Ms. Ogal was accompanied by officials from the Bank during a ten-day supervision mission when they visited the Dam and held meetings with the Treasury and the Ministry of Water Irrigation and Sanitation officials.

 The team also visited the community to review the status of houses after claims by residents that they were affected by the blasting process.

 “The contractor needs at least Sh3 billion to see the site running fully but the Bank can commit to get at least Sh1 billion. I urge the Ministry to hold a high-level meeting with the contractor to mobilize these remaining funds even as we sort other pending variation orders (VOs),” she noted.

The Principal Secretary, State Department for Water and Sanitation, Mr. Julius Korir, said a meeting will be held immediately.

Korir underscored the need to have a realistic extension of time (EoT) for the program, whose first phase recently hit a significant milestone with the completion of the critical embankment area ahead of schedule, paving way for other critical downstream phases.

Speaking during the meeting, Water Secretary Eng. Samuel Alima, who is also the Project Engineer, promised that the Ministry will keenly review, harmonize and synchronize the revised program of works to align with the extension of time.

During the meeting, the mission was also notified that critical hydro mechanical equipment for the dam had already been manufactured in China awaiting shipment to the country.

The Mission was also informed that at least 80 per cent of the pending non-compliance reports (NCRs), which are being sorted by the contractor and the consultant, were in the dam embankment area.

Consequently, the Ministry needs to ensure that all the NCRs are closed, the Mission noted.

The PS directed the dam builders to prepare a status matrix of all the NCRs and environment health and social issues and share with the Bank for review and close monitoring.

Korir also promised to engage the Chief Executive Officer of the National Lands Commission to fast-track all the pending land-related matters and ownership titles.

The dam, which is being funded by the AfDB and the Government of Kenya, is being constructed at the confluence of River Athi and Thwake at the borders of Makueni and Kitui Counties.

The facility is expected to benefit at least 1.3 million residents drawn from the rural parts of the Lower Eastern counties.

Phase I, which is currently at advanced stages, involves construction of an 80.5m high multi-purpose dam with storage capacity of 688 million cubic metre and associated preliminary works.

It is an embankment dam covering an area of around 9,217 acres, with catchment spanning about 10,276 km2.

The second phase will be the development of water supply, sanitation and wastewater infrastructure to supply an estimated 150,000 cubic metres a day of treated water to approximately 1.3 million people drawn from the rural areas of Kitui and Makueni Counties and Konza Techno City in Machakos County.

In the third phase, the contractor will develop a hydropower generation system with an installed capacity of approximately 20 MW, while the last phase will entail development of an irrigation scheme for 40,000 hectares of land.

Contractor’s scope of work entails construction and installation of concrete faced rock fill dam, main and emergency spillway, low level outlet, water intake tower, access roads, hydro mechanical plant, electrical and mechanical plant, access road over the dam connecting Kitui and Makueni counties and employees’ camp.