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Thwake Dam inches closer to reality
The multipurpose dam project is currently 32 per cent complete.
Updated
January 1, 2021
By
Miriam Nkirote
Ongoing works at Thwake Dam. PHOTO | COURTESY
Construction is well underway on the Sh82 billion Thwake Dam, which is coming up on the border of Kitui and Makueni, with the contractor working to recover the time lost due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Apopo Lentana of China Ghezouba Company, the project’s main contractor, engineers are undertaking major works at the site including establishing two giant tunnels to divert Athi River flow for excavation works at the river bed.
“We are currently at 32 percent and we will compensate on time lost during this period of the pandemic….By the end of this year, we will have completed the tunnels.” Lentana said.
The project should be at 37 per cent were it not for reduction of the number of workers on site to 700 down from 1,200 in line with the Ministry of Health guidelines to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
One of the tunnel, which will be 700 metres long on completion, is currently at 280 metres. The two tunnels will be used as substitute water ways where Athi River will change course before later joining the original path to the Indian Ocean.
“Once the river is diverted, there will be building of rock field dam wall that will be 87 meters high then making of main and minor spillways for excess water flow.” Lentana said.
Jointly funded by the Government of Kenya and the African Development Bank (AfBD), the project will be implemented in four phases at a cost of Sh81.89 billion.
Phase one, which is underway, involves construction of an 87m high dam wall with 688 million cubic metre storage capacity, and preliminary works for the implementation of the subsequent three phases.
The second phase of Thwake Dam project will involve installation of a hydropower generation plant while phase three comprises the installation of water supply, sanitation, and waste water infrastructure.
The fourth phase will involve the development of the irrigation component.
Through budgetary allocations to the respective ministry, the government will invest Sh59.95 billion into the project while AfBD will fork out Sh21.94 billion.
Thwake Dam will provide water for domestic, irrigation, hydropower as well as industrial activities in the beneficiary counties.
It will mainly serve Makueni County as well as certain parts of Kitui County.
In March 2019, then Auditor-General Edward Ouko warned that the project may never be completed because the government was yet to negotiate or secure funding for the last three phases of the project.
He said that although the AfDB and the government had approved Sh42 billion funding for phase one of the project, the remaining phases with a budget of Sh40 billion were yet to be planned for.
“The (government) is yet to negotiate or look for financiers for the remaining phases. Consequently, it is not clear how the three phases will be financed to project completion,” Mr Ouko said in a qualified audit opinion on the financials of phase one of the project.
The government has so far spent over Sh36 billion on the project.
www.constructionkenya.com