Water shortage halts donor projects in Taita Taveta, envoy

VOI, KENYA: Several agricultural donor funded projects are performing poorly due to persistent water shortages in Taita Taveta county, Slovak Ambassador to Kenya Frantisek Dlhopolcek has said.
The Ambassador said the projects funded by the European Union (EU) aimed at improving education and the living standards of Taita-Taveta County residents are not performing well.
Mr Dlhopolcek noted that the agricultural projects like greenhouses implemented in primary and secondary schools in the lower parts of Voi Sub County had not met its intended purposes.
"The EU has spent millions of shillings in implementing such agricultural projects aimed at enhancing food security and stabilize enrollment rate in schools but have all failed. The region is suffering from prolonged drought occasioned by unreliable rainfall," said the envoy on Wednesday.
He spoke to the press in Voi town after inspecting the projects in Kasigau and Sagala wards in Voi Sub County.
"Learning in the lower parts of the county where such projects started have badly been affected. Several students dropped out of school due to ravaging poverty. Lack of water has affected the green house projects and schools are not performing well in national examination," he said.
The chairman of the Coast Water Services (CWSB) Granton Samboja however said frequent water shortages would only be a thing of the past if the county government constructs huge water tanks.
"The current tanks were only reserved for small population. The population in Voi town and its environs and business has grown hence the need for huge water supply," he said.