Allow Sh6bn dam, water firms urge Nyamira

The fate of the controversial multi-billion shilling water dam in Bonyunyu in Nyamira now depends on how the government will strike a deal with residents to allow it to go on.

The Lake Victoria Water Services Board said donors are waiting to disburse the funds once they are assured there will be no further protests against the Sh5.8 billion project.

“We can’t drop the ball now, the donor has committed himself and is only awaiting your nod on this for us to move forward,” the board’s director, Victor Omanwa, told residents at Gachuba at  a public forum.

 Funded by the Dutch government, the project ran into opposition as  residents claimed they have been kept in the dark on compensation plans.

“We must agree to projects aimed at finding solutions to the problems affecting us. We can’t drag politics into everything if we are to move forward,” Mr Omanwa said.

Surveyors who visited the site were violently rejected by residents in protests that have left one person dead.

There were fears that more than 2,000 people would be displaced  to give way for project estimated will generate 1.2MW of electricity.