Largest dam in East Africa set to benefit 1.3 million people and cost Sh36B to be constructed in Kenya

Approximately 1.3 million people from the Lower Eastern Region in Kenya are set to benefit from what has been hailed as the largest single project in the country and in East Africa, the Thwake Dam project.

After months of back and forth controversial tender war, Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa finally signed the contract earlier on this week.

“Thwake is our single largest project and we expect in about 90 days, the contractor will have mobilised personnel and resource to start construction,” Cabinet secretary Eugene Wamalwa said on Wednesday.

The government granted, China Gezhouba Group the contract of constructing phase one of Thwake Multipurpose Dam which will located on the border of Kitui and Makueni counties at a cost of Sh36.9 billion.

The first phase of the project jointly funded by the Kenyan government and the African Development Bank will take 56 months to complete. The latter will foot 35 per cent of the cost.

Once complete, Thwake Dam will be 77 M high and 22 Km long, appearing like a lake.

The dam will be 10 times the size of Kenya’s current biggest dam and provide a total of 134m litres of water daily.

“Thwake dam will be 10 times larger than Ndakaini dam and also the largest in East Africa. I want to assure that all the necessary funding of this project is in place to ensure that it goes on as planned,” said Wamalwa.

Kitui County Governor Charity Ngilu said that the dam will be a game changer in the region and pledged 100 per cent support of the project to ensure there are no hitches that derail the project.

Already, 90 per cent of compensation for land has been done and the rest are set to be compensated before the project officially commences.

The government has set aside US $48m for land compensation.

According to Wamalwa, over 60 dams are under construction across the counties as part of government’s initiative to improve water services in the country to 80% by the year 2020.