Damning details that angered President Uhuru Kenyatta leading to his cancellation of the Kimwarer Dam Project have emerged.
Daily Nation newspaper reported that Uhuru was most appalled with the fact that the entire project was pegged on a feasibility study that was carried out 28 years ago.
The paper further indicated that, if the dam would have been constructed to completion, it would have been a geological disaster considering that it would stand on top of a seismic fault.
“Although the Kimwarer dam design was done in detail in 1991, the fact that no other consultant review has since been undertaken does not give the team the confidence that this project can be progressed without going through a detailed re-validation.
“The tectonic fault cutting across the proposed Kimwarer dam has not been investigated to establish its effect on the structural integrity of the reservoir," read part of the report handed to the president.
It was also baffling why the dam needed Ksh7.1 billion for preliminaries, a cool 20 per cent of the project's estimated cost.
The project's team argued that putting more money on preliminaries "resulted in under-provision of key components of the dam and, in particular, the spillway, which was priced at Ksh290 million as opposed to an estimated cost of Ksh2.6 billion,"
This would later cost the taxpayers more than earlier projected.
“If Kimwarer is undertaken by another contractor and the preliminary and general items are scaled down to realistic costs and also the consultancy services and professional fees excluded, the dam is expected to cost Ksh17.2 billion,” continued the report.
On Wednesday, September 18, Uhuru ordered the cancellation of the Kimwarer dam project contract.
The project, which has made headlines a couple of times in the media, was found to be overpriced and economically unviable.
The president also ordered the immediate commencement of the implementation of the Arror Multipurpose Dam project with the new design components and cost rationalization plan as developed by a technical committee tasked to review the projects.
