President William Ruto on Tuesday, March 14, announced the resumption of talks around the construction of the Kimwarer, Arror and Itare dams.
Speaking during a press briefing after a meeting with President Sergio Mattarella of Italy at State House Nairobi, the Head of State noted that the government would cooperate with the Italian government to iron out obstacles hindering progress of the projects.
In particular, President Ruto affirmed that both governments had agreed to facilitate the withdrawal of cases challenging the legality of the procurement process followed in the preliminary stages of the projects.
{"preview_thumbnail":"/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/R2JIBBRXIaM.jpg?itok=gcqOVeJz","video_url":"","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]}
"The process of sorting the matters in court has already started in earnest," Ruto noted.
"We have agreed to re-establish cooperation on the construction of Arror, Kimwarer and Itare dams and other water and sanitation projects which are critical to our agenda on food security, delivery of water and climate action," stated the President.
He added that measures would be adopted to renegotiate the restructuring of the finances committed during the tenure of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.
According to Ruto, the government was keen on ensuring that the Arror and Kimwarer projects resume in a "matter of months", terming them as "urgent and top priority" for the government's plans to alleviate the water shortage crisis in parts of the Rift Valley.
"I am very proud to announce that the three dams which were subject to court cases and court matters, we have now agreed on a framework to settle all the outstanding court cases and court matters and agreed that the facilities that had been provided for the construction of these dams will be renegotiated so that we can provide for the delivery of the dams and the implementation of the projects," he added.
In addition, the Italian President committed to providing over Ksh13 billion in loans and grants to aid Kenya in the implementation of various projects within the agriculture, health, creative economy, and digital superhighway sectors.
Stalled Projects
The construction of the two dams (Arror and Kimwarer) hit a snag in 2019 after then-President Uhuru Kenyatta directed their cancellations on grounds of gross embezzlement of funds.
Uhuru ordered the resumption of the project at half the cost initially advanced to avoid the wastage of public resources.
During his campaigns, President Ruto vowed to ensure the completion of the two dams as part of his agenda to realise food security in the North Rift and other parts of Kenya.
