The Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation is implementing Thwake Multipurpose Water Development Program which comprises a multipurpose dam for water supply, power generation and irrigation. This is a Flag Ship Program under Vision 2030 of the Government of Kenya (GOK) and a key project under the Government’s Big Four Agenda.
The program comprises multi-purpose dam for water supply, hydropower generation and irrigation development. It will also provide regulation of flows on River Athi downstream of the dam for flood control and drought mitigation. The program will be implemented in four phases;
The Program’s Phases:
Phase 1: Construction of an 80.5m high multi-purpose dam (688 million cubic metre storage capacity) and associated preliminary works located one Kilometre downstream of the confluence of Thwake and Athi Rivers;
Phase 2: Development of hydropower generating system with an installed capacity of approximately 20 MW
Phase 3: Development of Water Supply, Sanitation & waste water infrastructure to supply estimated 150,000 m3/day of treated water to approximately 1.3 million rural residents drawn from areas of Kitui and Makueni Counties and those in Konza Techno City
Phase 4: Development of Irrigation Scheme to ultimately irrigate approximately 40,000 hectares (approx. 100,000 acres) of land.
Main Contractor: Construction is being undertaken by China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) Limited