• PS Kibicho said there is a capacity of irrigating other 10000 acres to bring the total acreage to 20,000 acres under irrigation using the current machinery.
• Kibicho said NIA has planted 5,200 acres and require Sh600-700 million to finish the remaining 4,800 acres of the test farm.
The government will lease 1.8 million acres of land in the Sh7.3 billion Galana Kulalu irrigation project to the private sector.
Galana-Kulalu is among the national government's flagship projects and it traverses Kilifi and Tana River counties.
A 10,000-acre test farm being developed by the National Irrigation Authority is 85 per cent complete and irrigation infrastructure is in place.
A committee of 10 principal secretaries on implementation of government projects and other top officials under the National Development Technical Implementation committee chaired by Interior PS Karanja Kibicho on Monday toured of the project. They said they are satisfied with the ongoing work.
The team will push for the disbursement of Sh700 million for completion of the second phase of the 10,000-acre test farm.
Kibicho's delegation was taken around the main pumping station which has eight out of the 15 pumps operating in the main project, then to the maize plantation where harvesting is going on.
The NIA also planted cashew nuts, coconuts and paw paws in the 10,000 acre test farm to test their viability.
Kibicho said NIA has planted 5,200 acres and requires about Sh700 million to finish the remaining 4,800 acres of the test farm.
He said the team will come up with a comprehensive report and forward it to the Cabinet committee for disbursement of the funds.
NIA, Kibicho said, will soon be handing over the project to private developers to run ventures that will help address food insecurity.
The PS said the area has over 1.8 million acres for irrigation which will be leased after completion of the 10,000 acres.
Since NIA are not experts in irrigation, they will lease it to private developers to plant different kinds of crops, the PS said.
"There are eight working pumps; some are driven by diesel engine while others by generator."
Kibicho said they were impressed with the demonstration farm with different crops to see which is viable. The PS said after assessment, they found the project is viable as farming was done using machines, especially harrowing, planting, irrigating, and harvesting maize.
There is a capacity for irrigating other 10,000 acres using the current machinery, he said.
"We will recommend the Cabinet committee to allow funding for the remaining acres of the test farm," he said.
With the termination of the contract of Green Arava - an Israeli company tasked with the construction of the model farm - NIA requested Sh600 million to finish the project.
Water PS Joseph Irungu said the decision was made due to a breach of contract by the Israeli company.
He spoke last week during an inspection tour of Galana Kulalu. He was accompanied by his Agriculture counterpart Hamadi Boga.
Irungu said NIA will be in charge of completing the remaining work for the model farm so it can be handed over to the private sector.
“We will do the remaining work using local talent," Irungu said.
This comes two months after the deputy to Israeli Ambassador Eyal David said the two countries had completed the negotiations for Green Arava to resume the construction work.
The dispute between Green Arava and NIA started in 2018 when the contractor said the National Irrigation Board owed it Sh1 billion, a claim the agency disputed.
The Sh7.3 billion project started in November 2014 and was expected to end in March 2017 but the date was later extended to January 2018. This is yet to happen due to a stalemate between the contractor and NIA over a number of reasons.
“We do not want the contractor, he is a liability and whatever he is doing is wrong. He is stealing from the government,” NIA chairman Joshua Toro said.
The PS urged the National Assembly to allocate the requested resources to enable the authority to deliver the model farm as envisioned.
The initial plan by the government was to open up the entire project to the private sector after the completion of the model farm. However, the process stalled after the tender that had been floated was cancelled about three years ago.
Edited by R.Wamochie
