After a missed deadline at the end of 2021, the Kimugu drinking water supply project in Kericho County, Kenya, is coming to an end. The new drinking water infrastructure was inaugurated on 19 July 2023 by the Kenyan President, William Ruto.
New water infrastructure should improve the supply of drinking water in Kimugu, in Kericho County, in western Kenya. They include a drinking water treatment plant with a capacity of 13,000 m3 per day, a water intake on the Kimugu river, a 7.7 km water transport network and three reservoirs, including two of 5,000 m3 and 1,000 m3, built as part of the Kimugu drinking water project launched in 2019.
The facilities were inaugurated on 19 July 2023 by Kenyan President William Ruto, despite anti-government protests led by Azimio, the political alliance headed by Raila Odinga, the unsuccessful candidate in Kenya’s 2022 presidential election. The Chinese company Nanchang Foreign Engineering Company carried out the various works, in collaboration with Jiangxi Jingtai Water Conservancy Company and Electrical Power Construction Company.
Financing from KFW
In all, more than 200,000 people will benefit from the new drinking water supply infrastructure in the towns of Kericho, Kapsuser and Kapsoit, as well as in the suburban and surrounding areas, until 2030. The drinking water will be distributed via the network of Kericho Water and Sanitation Company (KEWASCO), the company that manages water and sanitation in Kericho County. In addition, an additional 50 km of pipeline will carry part of the resource to the districts of Belgut, Kipkelion East and Ainamoi in Kenya.
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Implementation of the water project required an investment of 1.2 billion Kenyan shillings (around $8.46 million), with support from Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the German development agency, and the Kenyan central government. It is a component of the Lake Victoria South Water Supply and Sanitation Development Programme (WSDP-LVS), implemented by the Kenyan Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources.
Inès Magoum
