The National Irrigation Board and the contractor Green Arava are yet to resolve disputes surrounding the Sh7.3 billion Galana Kulalu irrigation project.
But Irrigation Principal Secretary Fred Segor on Tuesday said the two parties are currently in talks to try and resolve the issues by next month.
He spoke when he visited the project with members of the NIB board.
Israeli firm Green Arava abandoned the site after disputes over delayed payment by the irrigation board and contract management issues started early last year.
On May 24, NIB officials and the contractor appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee to answer queries about the delayed payments.
The contractor claimed that NIB owed them Sh1 billion but the board claimed it owed the contractor only Sh200 million.
Segor said the contractor and NIB are working to iron out the outstanding issues to speed up the completion of the remaining 15 per cent of the project.
The PS said the ministry has to ensure that production continues and that the equipment at the model farm is put to use.
Some 1, 500 acres are currently under maize crop. This is the first crop production being implemented by NIB after the contractor handed over.
The first two crop seasons were under the contractor.
Segor said harvesting of the maize crop will start in September and they are expecting a harvest of about 30 bags per acre.
“The harvesting will go on until October and we will be able to know the cost of production. We will sell the harvest at the market price, just as we did with the last harvest of 4,000 bags,” he said.
He said NIB has also put 500 acres under cotton production.
“We want to find out how cotton produces under irrigation,” he said.
In June, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri said NIB had taken full charge of the 10,000 acres model irrigation project until further notice.
“Galana has so far spent Sh6.2 billion and yet we have not gone far. We have taken a risk, and directed NIB to take over planting and kicked out the contractor,” the CS said.
Kiunjuri was optimistic that with proper supervision from the government the project would avert any more losses.
(edited by O. Owino)
