The African Development Bank (AFDB) has announced that it has given Kenyan 2 loans valued at Ksh. 27 billion (€235.763 million) for the completion of construction work on Thwake dam. The dam in on Thwake River and is a strategic water supply project for the large semi-arid area of Makueni County and surrounding regions, including Konza.
The additional loan follows a previous loan of €76 million loan in 2013 to start building the dam as part of the Thwake Multi-Purpose Development Programme (TMWDP). The project aims to provide drinking water, hydroelectric energy and irrigation.
Completion of the 80.5 m high multi-purpose dam will enable the storage of 681 million m3 of water. 625 million m3 will be used for electricity production and downstream irrigation of agricultural land; 22 million m3 for upstream irrigation and 34 million for human use. Construction in the initial phase of the TMWDP project should be completed in December 2022.
This will be followed by three further phases:
- Construction of hydraulic plants to treat up to 34,600 m3 of water for household use for 674,700 rural inhabitants and upto117,200 m3 for 640,000 residents in the technology city of Konza.
- Hydroelectric energy production
- 40,000 ha of irrigation.