Nakuru water firm gets Sh430m for sanitation
Raw sewerage from Nakuru town flowing into Kisulisuli Primary School playground where pupils, parents and teachers a staged protest on April 8, 2013. Nakuru Town sits on a health time bomb as blocked sewer lines continue to spew their contents onto the streets in residential areas . FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mr Cheruiyot said five human waste collection centres would be operational in Nakuru town before the end of the year and that the programme would later be spread to other peri-urban centres in towns such as Gilgil, Njoro, Molo, and Subukia.
The Nakuru Water and Sanitation Services Company has received Sh430 million to improve the sanitation value chain for peri-urban low-income areas in the cosmopolitan county.
Nawasco managing director John Cheruiyot said the project, which is funded by the European Union, would create at least 200 jobs once it is fully operational.
He said nearly 250,000 people in the low-income areas of Nakuru lack access to adequate sanitation facilities and the project, apart from improving hygiene, will also generate biogas power.
Benefit the poor
“This is a commercial and sanitation project that will immensely benefit the poor low-income residents of Nakuru County as the waste from their toilets will be used to produce biogas and fertilisers that can boost agriculture in the region,” said Mr Cheruiyot.
At the same time, he said, the fertiliser would be sold to flower firms in the region.
He spoke at Merica Hotel in Nakuru town last week during the launch of the European Union-Nakuru county sanitation programme.
The pilot project will target residents of the densely populated Kwa Rhonda Estate and later spread to other low-income areas.
He said a treatment plant would be constructed in the area while about 10 private entrepreneurs would be contracted to collect human waste.
Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua, who was the chief guest, said at least 60 per cent of the population in Nakuru lives in low-income areas and that the project would, therefore, help improve their living standards.
Spread to other parts
Mr Cheruiyot said five human waste collection centres would be operational in Nakuru town before the end of the year and that the programme would later be spread to other peri-urban centres in towns such as Gilgil, Njoro, Molo, and Subukia.
He said his company would start a campaign to sensitise residents in the low-income areas on the need to embrace the new technology.
Mr Cheruiyot said modern toilets and washing facilities would be constructed in 10 schools in low-income areas in a bid to improve hygiene standards.
The European Union’s programme manager in charge of infrastructure in Kenya, Ms Sanne Willems, said the union has released the first tranche of Sh280 million for the four-year project that will end in 2017.
Ms Willems said EU has so far spent Sh4 billion on the water sector in Kenya and was committed to helping the country achieve its Vision 2030 initiative by making sure that the rising population has access to clean water.
