Tana River governor to visit Murang’a water tunnel project, make decision

The Tana River County Governor and a team of experts will this week visit the Murang'a water tunnel on a fact-finding mission.

It is after this visit that Governor Hussein Dado will decide whether to back the project or reject it.

“I have not made my mind, simply because I have not visited the site to see how the Tana River, which we highly depend on, will be affected,” Mr Dado the Nation.

The Sh6.8 billion water tunnel funded by the World Bank is expected to supply water to Nairobi.

Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has said the ministry wants to harvest the flood waters from the river, explaining that this process will not affect the flow of the river.

But Governor Dado said that although he supports the national government’s projects aimed at improving the lives of Kenyans, he first has to visit the site and learn more about it just to make sure his people don’t suffer in the end.

Mr Dado said his government is using Sh300,000 per day to distribute water to residents, who are facing a water shortage.

He said the drought has compelled county officials to use 54 water tanks, of which seven are from the national government while the rest are hired by the county.

“We decided to start distributing water to my constituents after two people died while trying to draw water from deep wells,” he said.

The two old men died after the walls of the wells they were drawing water from collapsed on them in Asa and Galole.

Mr Dado said the county has been distributing clean water in affected areas for more than a month.

At the same time, he said his administration had bought and distributed food worth Sh160 million to affected households before the national government moved in last week.

He said 97,000 households have been affected but of those 46,000 are fully stressed.

The national government, through the ministry of Devolution, moved in last week and distributed more than 60,000 bags of maize, 30,000 bags of rice and 50,000 bags of beans.

Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri and his Water counterpart Mr Wamalwa, however, flagged off more than 20 water tanks to help in distributing clean water in the affected counties of Tana River and Kilifi.