Isuzu Donates Water Tanks to Makueni Schools.


Excavation works for desilting of Ndukuma Dam in Muvau Ward, Makueni Constituency, has started.
The works include clearing vegetation, 5-meter deep excavation of the dam basin to remove silt accumulated over decades and raising the embankment by 0.5metres to increase the capacity of the dam.
Once the 58-acre dam is refurbished, it will serve more than 19 villages in the area. The work is being carried out by Makueni County Engineers led by CEC for Water Eng. Kasyoki Kieti and our county machine operators and technicians.
The county has committed a total of Kshs 50 million for this first phase.
H.E Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior has commended the progress made in Thwake Dam construction, which stands at 74 percent to date.
During a tour of the project site in the company of County Commissioner Beverly Opwora on Tuesday, Governor Mutula Jnr expressed confidence that Phase One of the project will be ready for commissioning next year as envisioned by the national Ministry of Water and Irrigation.
H.E Mutula Jnr termed the project as one of the answers to the perpetual water and food stress bedeviling Makueni County. He said the Ministry of Water and Irrigation has given him its commitment for supply of water to Kalawa Ward and Wote town.
The governor also challenged the national government to start planning for the next phases of the project, which include a 20MW hydropower plant, water supply and sanitation as well as the irrigation component.
To ensure skills transfer, the governor put up a request to the contractor for capacity building of the county government’s water personnel in mega water dams construction to scale up their prowess.
Kalawa ward is arguably one of the driest parts of Makueni county, perpetually battling water scarcities.
On a normal day, residents have to trek a considerable distance to fetch water from points that the county government has continued to develop across the expansive ward.
A partnership between the county government and World Vision is however projected to change the above scenario and make the ward one of the water secure wards in the county.
The two institutions are co-funding a project dubbed Athi-Kalawa Sanitation Project meant to distribute water to 80 % of the ward area.
The project involves pumping water from Athi River to Wii hills, construction of a treatment plant, construction of a 500 cubic meters reservoir and three distribution lines (Kalawa, Miangeni and Syotuvali) for communal water circulation.
World Vision national director Lilian Dodzo who paid a courtesy call to governor Kivutha Kibwana on Tuesday, to discuss the project progress, said the project purposes to cut the distance to the nearest water point from households to a maximum of 500 meters.
According to County Executive Committee member for Water and Sanitation Rosemary Maundu, the project is 30 percent done and phase 1 must be complete before end of the year 2020.
Over 500 Residents of Kaunguni – Muuni Sub- Ward in Nguumo Ward have unanimously prioritized and proposed a mega Water project in a bid to enhance agricultural and livestock productivity for improved livelihoods in their area.
In a public participation forum on Thursday presided by Makueni Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau and attended by Gender and Trade Executives Godfrey Makau and Sebastian Kyoni respectively and a section of Makueni County Assembly members led by MCA Alfred Mutuku, the residents identified water scarcity as the major challenge.
They said if the right interventions are put in place then the problem would be resolved and water network widened to reach many who lack access today.
Further they lauded the department of health services as the best performing in the county for implementation of the universal health care that has seen the county citizenry access medical services at no cost.
“The department of health is leading in the county because we are being treated for free in our facilities. We urge the other department to step so that we can grow together in every sector in our county, ” said Mutua Masai, a representative from Kaunguni-East cluster.
The DG said: “Like I have said in other forums, we are focusing on mega projects that can impact a larger population. This is what we are calling the paradigm shift.”