The Civil Engineering Contractor February 2018 | Page 8

ON CONTRACTORS’ SITES
Interesting facts about Thwake Dam
Total cost of Thwake Dam: USD354.24-million.
59% will be paid by China Gezhouba Group, who will
construct the dam
Size of land to be acquired by the government:
9 158 acres
Estimated cost of land compensation:
USD48-million
Number of families that will relocate to pave
way for dam project: 1 792
Total combined catchment area of the Thwake
Dam: 10 276km 2
Height of Thwake dam wall: 77 metres
Amount of water in litres the dam is expected
to supply daily: 134 million
Area of land the dam is expected to irrigate in
Makueni and Kitui counties: 40 000 hectares.
Thwake is set to be 10 times the size of Ndakaini Dam.
Largest dam in East Africa to benefit 1.3m Kenyans
The current access to clean water in Kenya is estimated
at 90% in urban areas and 44% in the rural areas, while
the national average stands at 57%. At the same time,
provision for safe sanitation stands at a national average
of 80% (95% urban and 77% rural). This makes Kenya
a ‘chronically water scarce’ country. Water availability
currently stands at 647m 3 per capita and is projected to
fall to 245m 3 per capita by the year 2025; noting that the
international minimum is 1 000m³ per capita. Kenya’s
water resources are also highly vulnerable to climate
variability, which often results in floods and droughts.
Inadequate storage capacity currently limits the ability to
buffer against the water shocks or shortages.
Thwake Dam was first proposed for construction in 1953
during the colonial days and again in the 1980s. However,
the project was never undertaken. Signific