The government is set to construct a Sh150 billion High Grand Falls dam at Kibuka falls, River Tana in Tharaka constituency within the next six years.
This is envisioned to increase the capacity of the Galana irrigation project to help end food shortage in the country.
David Gikaria, vice chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Implementation, said the venture will also benefit Mwiku coal basin project.
The Nakuru Town East MP said the dam will cut across Tharaka Nithi, Embu and Kitui counties, further blaming the delays on inflated figures on planned compensation of affected locals.
"The Attorney General came up with a law to deal with the crazy figures in the compensation scheme. This will get rid of cartels who want to buy land so as to reap from the payout," he said.
He said at least 4,500 households in the three counties will be displaced when the project kicks off.
"This has brought some political issues as politicians do not want their people moved to other counties. Three areas have been identified to ensure that the residents are resettled in their counties," Gikaria said.
He said the Tana River Development Authority (TARDA) has requested parliament for funds to conduct public awareness on the project.
"The government has identified Akro Power, an investor who is ready to pump Sh150 billion and another Sh6 billion for compensation under a build-operate-transfer design," Gikaria said.
The dam will take up about 5.6 billion cubic metres of water for irrigating over 250,000 hectares of land and will also produce over 700 megawatts of electricity.
It is part of the Vision 2030's Sh1.5 trillion Lamu Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (Lapsset) projects.
The legislator said the project ought to have been completed in 1998 but has delayed just like other mega projects that took long before they were implemented.
"We seem to have issues with this mega projects in this country. The standard gauge railway was to kick off in 1975 . Thika super highway was to be built from as early as 1970's. We hope this one will soon be completed," the MP said, adding that the project's feasibility study will be reviewed.
He was accompanied by Chuka Igambang'ombe MP Muthomi Njuki and Planning PS Saitoti Torome.
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