The Ministry of Water has implemented projects worth Sh17 billion in Murang'a county.
Most of the projects are in various levels of completion and include 150 boreholes that have been sunk in areas with poor water connection, as well as 26 irrigation projects.
The projects have raised water connectivity in the county from 52 per cent three years ago to about 80 per cent.
Water Principal Secretary Joseph Wairagu on Friday went around the county commissioning complete projects and inspecting ongoing ones.
Murang'a, Wairagu said, is a special county as it supplies over 80 per cent of Nairobi's water.
The PS added that the government started pumping funds into the county for water projects as a form of compensation.
Most smaller projects, such as boreholes, have been completed while major ones which include Ithanga irrigation and Kenol sewerage projects will take more than one year to be completed.
Kenol sewerage project, on the other hand, requires water to be channelled from Kinyona in Kigumo before it is completed.
Some of the ongoing projects are part of President Uhuru Kenyatta's legacy programme and will have to be completed before his term ends.
In 2017, the President, during his re-election campaign, pledged to have a percentage of the water drawn from Murang'a rivers through the multimillion Northern Collector Tunnel supplied to residents.
The government is in the process of establishing Kigoro treatment plant through which 10 per cent of the tunnel's water will be supplied to Gatanga residents.
Wairagu confirmed that Nyanjigi irrigation project in Kangema, a communal water project started in 2011 before stalling for seven years, is complete.
Th ministry will be monitoring the extent of irrigation among residents in the 1,000 homesteads that the project is set to benefit.
Mirichu Murika irrigation project in Kiharu that was also started by farmers is also complete. The project will cover 1,000 households under 753 acres of land.
Mbogoti Kamande project in Kandara is 95 per cent complete.
"Sufficient funds have been set aside to ensure all unfinished projects are finished within their stipulated timelines," Wairagu said.
He also commissioned Kahumbu borehole that will provide both domestic and irrigation water, covering more than 50 acres of land.
The project, which started in December last year, will be fully complete in March, and is expected to rake in Sh200,000 per acre per year in horticultural farming.
"This borehole is one of the biggest we have in the county because it is providing 50 cubic metres of water per hour which is like a river," the PS added.
"That water is so much that we are injecting some of it into Murang'a South Water and Sanitation Company's system to be supplied to other areas."
Wairagu however called upon residents to manage the boreholes well, saying in some areas, they have been overused which causes the pumps to fail.
He cited the borehole sank in Nyangiti in Mathioya, where residents fetch water even at night, draining the borehole, and exhausting solar panels installed to run it.
Wairagu, who is vying for Murang'a governor seat, said he will make a major announcement on Tuesday regarding his bid.
The Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua last week released a circular requiring all civil servants with political aspirations to resign by February 8.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
