Thwake Dam to be completed next year

A section of the expansive Thwake Dam in Makueni County. [File, Standard]

Phase One of Thwake Multipurpose Dam will be completed by next year, the government has assured amid growing concern the project has dragged on for long.

After revising the completion dates for Thwake Multipurpose Dam more than three times, the government has now assured residents that Phase One of the project will be completed by February next year.

Promising that the completion schedule will be met, Water Secretary Samuel Alima said 84.4 per cent of the work has been done.

Speaking at the confluence of River Athi and Thwake in Makueni County - where the Vision 2030 water facility is being constructed, Alima said the government is closely monitoring and fast-tracking the construction to ensure food security in the Lower Eastern region.

"So far, there is good progress, we are at 84.4 per cent and the dam is expected to be completed by February 2024," he told journalists during a site tour.

Further extension

He said the Ministry of Water had instructed the contractor, China Ghezoubha Group of Companies (CCCG), to complete the dam as scheduled without any further extension.

"We have instructed the contractor to ensure that the dam is completed on time so that downstream components can be implemented," he noted.

He, however, observed that sealing the 11 million cubic metres of materials into the massive embankment is a challenge that will require about three months to fill with rocks and another additional two months of compacting.

"This is a concrete phased dam and the embankment is massive, 11 million cubic metres of materials being put there up to the top and they have to be given two months to settle and put the concrete phase," he said.

Alima, who is also the Project Engineer, was accompanied by the Project Implementation Team Coordinator David Onyango, SMEC consultants led by Nicholas Rowse and Makueni Water Executive Kasyoki Kieti.

Upon completion, the dam will supply some 150,000 cubic metres per day to assist an estimated 1.3 million of rural inhabitants of Kitui, Makueni and Machakos counties.