Six counties set to benefit from Ksh 1.2B water project

Six counties in Arid and Semi-arid lands (ASAL) are set to benefit from a Ksh 1.2 billion water project to address the current water shortage in the regions.

Under the five year project that has been supported by the Danish Government the Water Sector Trust Fund, over 2,500 households will benefit.

The counties that are set to benefit include Garissa, Isiolo, Lamu, Marsabit, Tana River and Turkana will each get an approximate Ksh 150 million.

This emerged when the donor country, the Trust fund and the counties signed a working memorandum in Lake Naivasha Resort.

According to Elizabeth Matioli the team leader from DANIDA, the five year programme would start in July targeting the marginalized areas.

She said that the donor country had previously funded eight counties at a tune of Ksh 3.5 billion but the current programme had been scaled down to Ksh 1.2 billion.

“We are targeting six counties where 2,500 households will benefit from the water programme for use in their household, for the livestock and sanitation,” she said.

Speaking during the signing programme, she said that DANIDA was keen to support water and sanitation and climate change programmes in the country.

On his part, the CAS for Water Dr Andrew Tuimur was full of praise for the water project as it came at a time parts of the country were facing drought.

He said that the government was currently undertaking 685 water projects in the country including three-peace-dams in Turkana, West Pokot and Marsabit.

“Water is very critical in addressing the issues of conflict and this project will address the perennial cross-border conflicts in the ASAL counties,” he said.

The CAS at the same time noted that there was a need to raise sanitation levels in the country which stood at 20 percent to 40 percent by 2022.

Lamu Governor Fahim Twaha noted that the county faced water challenges adding that the five year programme would address the current challenges.

He added that the ongoing capital projects around the Lamu Port would see an increase in population and hence the demand for more water.

“We have already seen a population increase in Lamu due to the port and we have started to plan in terms of water and sanitation,” he said.

A trustee in the fund Fred O. Josiah said that the project would address the issues of water, sanitation and climate change.

“We are keen to address the issue of conservation, re-afforestation and preservation of natural resources in this project around the six counties,” he said.

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