The China Henan International Cooperation Group (Chico) has recently started construction and rehabilitation work on several wastewater treatment facilities in the cities of Kiambu and Ruaka in Kenya. Financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), this project will require an investment of 12 million dollars.
The Kiambu-Ruaka water supply and sanitation project is now on track. The work was recently launched by China Henan International Cooperation Group Co (Chico), a company based in Henan, China. The overall objective of the project is to improve water supply and sanitation services in the towns of Kiambu and Ruaka in Kiambu County in western Kenya.
Selected through a tender by the Athi Water Works Development Agency (AWWDA), the Chinese company Chico has started work in Kiambu. The county capital of the eponymous county has a sewerage system and a wastewater treatment plant with a nominal capacity of 2,200 m³ per day. The sewage treatment plant has not been fully constructed and is currently overwhelmed. The plant will be rehabilitated.
Extension of the sewerage system
Kiambu’s sewer system is composed of 4 concrete and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipes. The project will allow the construction of 108 km of collectors and cross-linking sewers covering areas of Kiambu and Ruaka. In both towns, Chico will install 6 boreholes that will supply drinking water to a 48 cubic metre reservoir. The water distribution network of the two towns will be extended over 25 km, allowing the connection of 450 households on the last kilometre.
The entire project is expected to be delivered by July 2021, benefiting 100,000 people in Kiambu County. The Kiambu-Ruaka Water Supply and Sanitation Project is part of the Sustainable Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Programme in Kenya. The programme “will benefit other fast-growing towns across the country in areas such as Kikuyu, Limuru, Machakos, Kisumu, Narok, Kakamega, Eldoret, Marsabit, Changamwe, Kitui, Watamu and Nanyuki, among others. These areas have never been connected to the sewers before and all the waste from these towns should flow into the Ruai sewage treatment plant,” says Sicily Kariuki, the cabinet secretary for Water, Sanitation and Irrigation.
In Kiambu and Ruaka, the water supply and sanitation project will require an investment of 1.3 billion Kenyan shillings, or just over $12 million. It is being financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Jean Marie Takouleu
