Construction of Siyoi-Muruny water project in Kenya to resume

Construction of the Siyoi-Muruny water project in West Pokot, Kenya is set to resume. Rift valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya made the announcement and said that the government has availed funds to revive the stalled project.

The proposed Muruny Dam is located near Kapsait Primary School at Murkokoi Center which is approximately 43km from Kapenguria Town. The project area lies within the Rift Valley Drainage Basin. River Muruny emanates from Cherangany Hills and flows in a North Eastern direction before finally draining into Lake Turkana.

The dam components include an ogee spillway 20m wide, a dry intake tower 32.5m high, twin diversion culverts 2.5m by 2.5m, Concrete side channel spillway, 70m suspended bridge over reservoir, Dam instrumentation and installation of 11km of DN800 raw water mainline.

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Project delays

The project which started in March 2015 was expected to be completed by March 2018 after 36 months. Late last year, Members of the National Assembly Special Funds Accounts Committee discovered that the contractor had gone missing for more than a year after receiving part of the contract payment.

The team which included Endebbes MP Robert Pokosse, his Kapenguria Counterpart Mark Lomunokol and Kuria MP Marua Kitayama had gone to inspect the stalled project. Pokosse disclosed that on arrival at the scene, they found that the project was only 10% complete even though the contractor had received half the funds to facilitate its construction.

According to Mr. Natembeya, the contractor was initially paid US $6.4m for the implementation of the project and despite the delay the quality of work done so far is commendable. He has however held a consultative meeting with the contractor to sort out underlying issues and agreed that contraction works will resume immediately.

The multipurpose water project is expected to benefit 350,000 households once it’s complete. It supply potable water to Kapenguria Municipality, parts of Pokot South District and areas along the pipeline route from Kabichbich town where treatment works are located.