Despite initial fears of being derailed by Covid-19, Thwake Dam, a multi-billion shilling multipurpose dam in eastern Kenya, is on course for completion by the end of 2022. However, some delay was experienced due to scaling down of workers at the site in compliance with Ministry of Health guidelines and advisories from the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services.
Once completed, Thwake Multipurpose Dam is expected to change lives of close to 1.3 million residents of Makueni, Kitui and Machakos counties.
The first phase involves construction of an 80.5m high multi-purpose dam with a storage capacity of 688 million cubic meters and preliminary works to lay the ground for other three phases.
The second phase will see construction of hydropower and substation which is expected to generate at least 20 megawatts of electricity. Phase three will involve development of a water supply system to treat and distribute up to 150,000 cubic metres of water per day to rural inhabitants of Kitui and Makueni counties and Konza City in Machakos County and its environs.
The final stage will see development of irrigation works for up to 40,075 hectares of land in Kitui and Makueni counties.
The contractor is China Gezhouba Group Company Ltd with SMEC International Pty (K) Ltd as the main consultant.
Thwake Dam was first proposed for construction in 1953 during the colonial days and again in the 1980s. However, the project was never undertaken. Significant numbers of intervention projects in water and sanitation have been undertaken in Makueni and other areas in the southern part of eastern region, but the problem of water shortage continues.
