The African Development Bank (AfDB) has welcomed a move by the National Treasury in initiating the process of seeking additional funds for Thwake Multipurpose Dam whose first phase has hit 94 per cent physical progress.
During an Implementation Support Mission exit meeting held on Friday, November 22, 2024, the Thwake Multipurpose Water Development Program Task Manager at the Bank Nancy Ogal, further directed the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation top officials to urgently hold a high-level strategy meeting with the Contractor – China Gezhouba Group Corporation and the supervising consultant to fast-track all pending issues which are affecting the Vision 2030 project.
Ogal was accompanied by the Bank officials during a ten-day Supervision Mission which saw the officials visit the Dam and hold meetings with Treasury officials and the Ministry.
The Mission also visited the community to review status of houses after claims by residents that they were affected by blasting process.
“The Contractor needs at least Kshs 3 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 mobilise these remaining funds even as we sort other pending Variation Orders (VOs),” she noted.
Water and Sanitation, Principal Secretary, Julius Korir directed that the meeting be held immediately. He 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.
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 (EoT).
During the meeting, the Mission was also notified that critical Hydromechanical Equipment for the Dam have already been manufactured in China awaiting shipment to the country.
The Mission was also informed that at least 80% of the pending Non-Compliance Reports (NCRs), which are being sorted by the Contractor and the Consultant, were on the Dam Embankment area. The Mission directed the Ministry to ensure all the NCRs were closed.
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.
He 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 Program which is being funded by the AfDB and the Government, is being constructed at the confluence of River Athi and Thwake in 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 1 which is currently at advanced stage, 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 see development of water supply, sanitation and waste water infrastructure to supply an estimated 150,000 m3/day of treated water to approximately 1.3 million people drawn from the rural areas of Kitui and Makueni counties and Konza Technopolis City in Machakos County.
The third phase will see development of hydropower generation system with an installed capacity of approximately 20 MW, while the last phase will entail development of 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 employers’ camp.
