AfDB Supervision Mission urges Thwake Dam builders to expedite completion

By Godffrey Olali
A Supervision Mission by the African Development Bank (AfDB) has urged the builders of Thwake Multipurpose Dam being constructed at the borders of Makueni and Kitui counties to expedite completion of the first phase of the multi-billion water reservoir facility as per the stipulated timelines.
Speaking recently during a site appraisal tour of the dam – poised to uplift millions of lives in the Lower Easter region – the Mission led by Thwake Multipurpose Water Development Program Task Manager at the Bank Ms. Nancy Ogal, directed that the stipulated December 8, 2024 timeline for the construction works for phase I must be met.
“We must close all the pending Non-Compliance Reports (NCRs) in good time since delays will impact on the projected timelines,” said Ogal who urged the Contractor, the supervising Consultant and the implementation team to furnish the lender with all the challenges being faced.
She added that the Bank will also engage the high-level leadership at the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation to come up with strategies on how to address the bottlenecks which are delaying the implementation.
The objective of the Mission was to monitor the program implementation status following the Desk Supervision that was undertaken in December 2023. The Mission also discussed outstanding issues that are impacting smooth implementation of the Program, with a view to identifying and agreeing on remedial actions for the efficient implementation going forward.
The AfDB Mission also included Eng. Emily Kilongi, a water and sanitation specialist, David Gacheru, a procurement specialist, Vitalis Too, an environment and safeguards officer and Dr Winnie Wairimu, an environment and social safeguards officer.
During the visit, the Mission was taken through presentations by the Program Implementation Team (PIT) and the supervising consultant – Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC). It was also noted that the project which has hit a physical progress of 92 per cent, has made
significant progress in some of the its salient features including tunnel A, B, bypass tunnel (95 per cent), low level outlet (58 per cent), intake tower (40 per cent), spillway (92 per cent) and embankment dam (68 per cent).
Water Secretary Eng. Samuel Alima, while addressing the Mission, promised that the Ministry was keen in ensuring the timelines are met.
The presentations also focused on areas such as program procurement, physical works, financial management, gender and social development, environment, health and social safeguards, monitoring and evaluation, communication and publicity.
The Mission which was also expected to hold discussions with the government on downstream phases, added that the Bank was keen to finance the three remaining phases.
Contractor’s scope of work entails construction and installation of cconcrete faced rock fill dam, main and emergency spillway, low level outlet, water intake tower, access roads, hydro mechanical plant, electrical and mechanical plant, access road over the dam connecting Kitui and Makueni counties and employer’s camp.
The Government of Kenya (GOK) through the State Department for Water and Sanitation, with funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) is implementing Thwake Multipurpose Water Development Program Phase 1.
This is a flagship program under Vision 2030 of the Government of Kenya whose overall objective is to fulfil the long-term country’s development ambition in the areas of water, energy and agriculture.
It is also a key project under the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) that will provide regulation of flows on River Athi downstream of the dam for flood control and drought mitigation.
The program under which the project is being implemented has four phases including construction of an 80.5 m high multi-purpose dam with storage capacity of 688 million cubic meter and associated preliminary works located one kilometre downstream of the confluence of Thwake and Athi Rivers. A concrete-faced embankment dam covering an area of 9,217 acres, with a catchment spanning about 10,276 km2.
Development of water supply, sanitation and waste water infrastructure to supply estimated 150,000 m3/day of treated water to approximately 1.3 million people drawn from the rural areas of Kitui and Makueni Counties and Konza Techno City in Machakos County, development of hydropower generating system with an installed capacity of approximately 20 MW and development of an irrigation scheme to ultimately irrigate 40,000 hectares (approx. 100,000 acres) of land.
The Ministry is currently implementing phase 1 of the Program.