Turkana County Government will henceforth adopt a working relationship that designates project managers to work with contractors to ensure timely completion of projects across the County.
This was revealed today by Deputy Governor Peter Lotethiro who is also the acting CEC for Water, Environment and Mineral Resources during a meeting with contractors in the water sector where he also divulged that the move was a deliberate intervention that enjoys backing of the County Cabinet.
Noting the significance of water for humans and their livestock in an area that qualifies the classification as an ASAL region, Lotethiro insisted that the move would fasttrack access to water as a basic human right.
Additionally, Lotethiro said that action by the County would be guided by the provisions of Public Finance Management Act (2015), the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (2015) and the need to ensure that the target population is well served.
On his part, the Chief officer for Water, Environment and Mineral Resources Moses Natome said that department would augment the new approach by incorporating contractor engagement on the consequences of not delivering their projects as expected.
Natome insisted that contractors had no choice but to fully comply to the tender expectations to avoid termination and subsequent blacklisting from the list of suppliers.
He urged contractors to play their part by submitting the required documentations and evidence of work done within the financial year for which the project has been budgeted for.
Natome explained that the water works earmarked for completion included; Water supply improvement, reticulation, desalination works on selected saline boreholes, construction and de-silting of water pans and rock catchment most of which were ongoing works from the last financial year 2020/2021 scattered across the county.
The contractors who attended gave their commitments towards executing their part of the works and urged the county to fast track the payment process as promised.
By Peter Gitonga and Ekuwam Sylvester
