A recent report by the Auditor-General cast doubt on the viability of the multi-billion shilling Thwake Dam when it said the water feeding the dam was not suitable for human consumption. In the report, Nancy Gathungu noted that the dam would be fed by water from Athi River whose main tributary is the heavily polluted Nairobi River.
But President Uhuru Kenyatta has assured Kenyans that the construction of the multipurpose dam will be completed in June next year and ordered the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) to immediately commence clean-up of the Nairobi River and other rivers upstream to ensure the water being fed into the dam will be safe for human consumption.
The president spoke at the dam while on a tour of development projects in Makueni and other counties in Ukambani.
“We are going to ensure that our environment is protected to ensure that there is no pollution happening upstream. It is a right of every Kenyan to get clean water,” he said.
Once completed, Thwake 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 is the 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.
