Ruto offers 100 dams to private investors in a KSh1.7trn project
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President Ruto offers 100 dams to private investors in a KSh1.7trn project in a move to address water challenges in the country
President Ruto offers 100 dams to private investors in a KSh1.7trn project in a move to address water challenges in the country.
As part of its effort to raise Sh1.7 trillion to address the country’s water constraint issues, Kenya has offered private investors the chance to participate in 100 dams and presented a series of land incentives.
Addressing investors at a pre-bid meeting, Water Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome said parts of the dams are on public land, including forested areas, and would not be sold to them in order to maintain the project’s position as a national endeavor.
“The government plans to partner with private investors by offering land, as some of the dam sites are on government land, especially in forests. It is important to note that the government will not be selling land as the land and the entire project will remain under the jurisdiction of the national government,” said Alice Wahome.
Water shortage, she said, has been a major issue, particularly in peri-urban, rural, and marginalized communities.
She said that the ministry seeks to ensure that every citizen has access to sustainable and reliable water services through the adoption of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects.
To secure the investor’s return on investment, she noted that with an investor on board, it will operate as a joint venture during the construction and repayment periods.
“Once the project is completed, it will be taken over by the national government. The government will implement this initiative through its Water Works Development Agencies, which will cover all nine regions of the country as a matter of priority,” she said.
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The 100 PPP dams initiative seeks private sector capital and technology through a design, build, finance, operate, maintain, and transfer model.
The programme aims to provide safe drinking water to an additional six million households, bring one million hectares under irrigation, and generate 554MW of hydropower.
President William Ruto said in September that private firms will be allowed to invest in water and sell to the national government in a deal similar to that with electricity producers, as the government moves to attract new capital to bridge the funding deficit.
He said his government would turn to the private sector to increase access to clean water alongside other capital-intensive projects that it cannot immediately afford.
Under the proposed arrangements, private firms will build dams and drill water to sell to State-owned water agencies which will supply it to homes and other public entities at lower charges.
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