Chinese firm lands Sh10bn Nzoia irrigation project

Water Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa at a past event. The contract for the Nzoia projects was signed on November 22, 2017 between the Water and Irrigation Ministry and Sinohydro Company. PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The dykes project will include repair and improvement of existing ones and construction of new ones.
  • The yields in most parts of the country are never adequate to last a year.

A Chinese firm controversially awarded a tender for the construction of Thwake Dam, which was later cancelled, will now build the Sh10 billion irrigation project on River Nzoia.

The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) in April overturned the decision to award the Thwake contract to the highest bidder, Sinohydro Tianjin Engineering Limited Company, which has now been assigned the Lower River Nzoia irrigation scheme.

PHASES

The project, to be done in two phases, also involves the extensive rehabilitation and improvement of the lower Nzoia dykes to protect Siaya and Busia counties from perennial flooding.

The contract for the Nzoia projects was signed Wednesday between the Water and Irrigation Ministry and Sinohydro Company.

“The Sh5 billion from the World Bank funding will finance the first operation under the Kenya Water Security and Climate Resilience Programme aimed at achieving water security throughout the country,” said Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa.

The dykes project will include repair and improvement of existing ones and construction of new ones.

Mr Wamalwa said the irrigation project would boost production of rice, which is one of the country’s staple foods.

POOR FARMING

Due to poor farming practices, mainly subsistence and rain-fed agriculture, the yields in most parts of the country are never adequate to last a year.

The CS added that the project adheres to the bizarre Nile Water Agreement of 1929, which Britain signed on behalf of its East African colonies with Egypt, forbidding countries surrounding Lake Victoria from having full use of its waters.

This is because River Nzoia feeds the lake, which contributes 15 per cent of the Nile waters while the rest comes from the Ethiopian highlands.

In the Vision 2030 blueprint, the country set itself a target of putting 80,000 acres of land under irrigation each year for 12.5 years beginning in July 2013, in order to achieve the million-acre programme target by 2025, a feat the new project seeks to achieve in five years.