The national government will allocate funds to jump start the construction of the Soin-Koru Dam in Kericho County that stalled in September 2023.
Speaking during the National Government Development County Implementation Coordination and Management Committee meeting (NGD-CICMC), Kericho County Commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo confirmed that the government would allocate funds to continue the construction of the dam, and other stalled projects in Kericho County.
Mr, Kitiyo further urged affected farmers in SOIN KORU Dam region to continue ploughing and tilling their land for food production until the government moves in and starts the project while assuring them that the government would compensate them for their land before relocation is done to pave way for the construction of the dam.
Speaking at the same forum the Liaison officer in charge of KORU-SOIN Dam, Kericho Ms. Irine Chemutai explained the National Lands Commission has submitted a valuation report for phase II which requires Sh. 2.2Billion which she noted was yet to be deposited to the NLC for disbursement to approximately 1,200 persons for approximately 478 land parcels.
She however expressed her concerns that owing to the time lapse, the parcels of land can be re-evaluated to reflect the current market value for land in the region.
She explained that “the land requirement for the dam constructions including the treatment works is approximately 2,170 acres.
The compensation process was divided into two phases, where phase one involved 23 land parcels of the embankment while phase two involved 455 land parcels within the reservoir area.”
Chemutai expounded on the scope of the mega project saying it will cost the government a total of Ksh. 19.9billion to complete the construction by 27th August 2027. The government has already made an advance payment of Ksh. 499million which is 2.5 percent advance payment.
The commencement of the project was 27th August 2022 with the contractor of the project being China Jiangxi International Kenya Limited and China Jiangxi International Economic and Cooperation Co. Ltd Joint venture.
She further explained that the proposed development of Soin-Koru Multi-purpose dam is expected to control floods, contribute towards addressing portable water supply shortages and improve food productivity and electricity generation to the national grid.
She added that this will be achieved through storage of peak floods and later on increase access to water for domestic livestock and irrigated agriculture purposes as a basic precondition for sustainable livelihoods.
Chemutain further said the Soin-Koru Dam site is located on River Nyando that forms the boundary between the Kericho District and Muhoroni District some 5 KM South East of Muhoroni town, between Koitatui Hill and Got Alila stretching as span of approximately 1,35 KM and water storage capacity of approximately 93.7 Mega Cubic Meters.
“The contractor’s overall progress to date is 7.5 percent. The contractor has mobilized equipment and personnel, undertaken topsoil stripping of the Dam embankment section, setting up contractor’s camp site and establishment of other facilities” said Chemutai.
By Dominic Cheres and Kibe Mburu
