Water, Sanitation and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary (CS) Eric Muriithi Muuga has issued a stern warning to contractors undertaking projects in the North Rift region and across the country over failure to comply with the contract terms.
Some, he said, end up extending the duration meant to complete various projects.
The CS was speaking at the Uasin Gishu County Headquarters in Eldoret City ahead of the President’s tour to the region on Thursday to assess development projects on water, roads, technical institutes and affordable housing.
He called upon consultants who are tasked to supervise these projects to ensure projects are completed on time to enable the people of the great North Rift to 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 said.
The CS and his team visited two subcolonial dams, Moi’s Bridge Water Supply and Matunda Water Supply projects costing approximately Sh1.9 billion which the contractor has already mobilised some materials on site.
Additionally, the Water CS said there were ongoing irrigation projects across Uasin Gishu, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet and Nandi counties costing approximately Sh1 billion which they will be visiting to have a feel 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 people of Kenya get value for their money,” the CS said.
He said the government plans to start new water projects in the region like the Soy-Navilus project to the tune of Sh1.7 billion and the Kapsabet Sewerage System project at a tune of approximately Sh1 billion in the next few months.
“We have gotten funding from the 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,” CS Muuga said.
Noting the region is under the jurisdiction of the North Rift Water Works Development Agency, the CS said they are 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 thanked water service providers and the county governments for their support in reducing water losses through Non-Revenue Waters (NRWs) for these resources to be geared towards last-mile connectivity and expansion of the water networks across the sector’s physical space nationally.
