Sh2.4 billion projects to end Mandera water shortage

Mandera residents will start to benefit from Sh2.4 billion water and sanitation projects in three months.

Northern Water Works Development Agency CEO Andrew Rage said the Mandera Water and Sewerage projects are funded by the African Development Bank together with the national government.

The two projects are part of the Kenya Towns Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Programme.

Rage spoke on Monday after touring some of the ongoing projects in Mandera. 

He said the state continues to implement the projects despite security concerns posed by the Somalia based al Shabaab terror group.

A similar project is also ongoing in Marsabit town.

The NWWDA operates in six counties of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Marsabit, Samburu and Isiolo.

Rage said the Mandera water project consists of a new water treatment plant and a 230km-pipeline with a capacity to yield 16,000 cubic meters daily.

The plant will get its water from River Daua. The water will then be treated and pumped to Burdas hills, where it shall gravitate to Mandera town.

The sewerage, he said, consists of 50kms of sewer lines with a capacity of treating 6,000 cubic meters a day.

The CEO said the projects are expected to be completed in the next three months.

The project will provide clean and steady water supply to Mandera town which has a population of about 200,000 people.

“These two projects will open up the town for growth, attract more investors and businesses and hopefully reduce the insecurity incidences,” Rage said.

Mandera county commissioner Onesmus Kyatha said residents should safeguard the equipment once the project is completed.

He said that the water and sewage project will transform the town and steer development in the county.

“The project will help eradicate drought, improve livestock keeping and sanitation and disease control,” Kyatha said.

MANDWASCO deputy chief executive officer Najma Ibrahim termed the project as a game changer in the water sector.

She said it would increase water supply by more than 70 per cent.

“This water project will help us deal with illegal water connections and increase our revenue collection once every home is connected,” Najma said.

The sewage project engineer Benard Owiti said the project is a major intervention in preventing pollution of River Daua that trans-borders Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

“Once the sewage is collected, it is channeled to the treatment plant and then left to flow back into the river to support the aquatic life,” he said.

Osman Ali Rakiso, a resident of Mandera, said the water project will reduce the cost of living in the town.

“We are relying on trucks and donkey carts to supply us with water which is too expensive. This project will provide affordable means of getting water because every household will be connected,” Rakiso said.

Contractor Long Ze Jun said the project is proceeding well and they are looking forward to completing it within the allocated time.

Once completed, the project will be handed over to the Mandera Water and Sewerage Company.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)