The Cabinet Secretary (CS) in the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation Eric Muriithi Muuga has issued a stern warning to contractors undertaking projects in the North Rift region and across the country for failure to comply with the contract terms and ending up extending duration meant to complete various projects.
The CS was speaking at the Uasin Gishu County Headquarters in Eldoret City, during his visit ahead of the President’s tour to the region on Thursday to assess development projects on water, roads, technical institutes and the affordable housing.
He called upon consultants who are tasked to supervise these projects to ensure that projects are completed on time so that the people of the great North Rift can have actual value for their money.
“The challenge we have with these contractors is that the projects sometimes take too long to complete and that is what as a ministry we are saying we will not tolerate,” he noted.
The CS and his team visited two sub colonial dams, Moi’s bridge Water Supply and Matunda Water Supply projects costing at approximately Sh 1.9 billion which the contractor has already mobilized some materials on site.
Additionally, the Water CS said that there were ongoing irrigation projects across Uasin Gishu, West Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet and Nandi Counties costing approximately Sh 1 billion which they will be visiting to have a feeling of what the contractors are doing.
Muriithi called upon contractors to undertake these projects seriously by observing timelines noting that any extension is an expense to the government expenditure, on liquidated damages, because people are meant to enjoy these services at a set duration of time.
“When a contract is extended there are other expenses that are incurred and this is what makes some of our contracts very expensive, so we are very keen on that and we are calling consultants to ensure the contractors complete their work on time and in case there is any issues let them come up as early as possible so that we address them on time as a team to ensure that people of Kenya get value for their money,” alluded the CS.
He said the government plans to start new water projects in the region like the Soy-Navilus project to a tune of Sh 1.7 billion and Kapsabet Sewerage System project at a tune of approximately Sh 1 billion in the next few months.
“We have gotten funding from African Development Bank (ADB) to alleviate water connectivity in the region and ensure people have dignified sanitation services. We are calling upon people in the region to accept these projects,” noted CS Muuga.
Noting that the region is under the jurisdiction of the North Rift Water Works Development Agency, the CS indicated that they are also building up the capacity of this agency and are in the process of ensuring they improve the capacity of technical staff by recruiting more engineers to ensure they initiate projects that can attract foreign investment.
He further thanked water service providers and the County governments for their support to reduce water losses through Non-Revenue Waters (NRWs) so that these resources are geared towards last mile connectivity and expansion of the water networks across the sector’s physical space nationally.
By Ekuwam Sylvester and Ann Adipo
