Contractor deserts site of Sh20bn Soin-Koru dam project

A Chinese contractor has abandoned the site of the Sh20 billion Soin-Koru Multipurpose Dam Water Project, which straddles Kisumu and Kericho counties, raising fresh concerns over the fate of one of President William Ruto flagship infrastructure projects.

The contractor, China Jiangxi International Kenya Limited, walked away from the site following prolonged financial constraints related to unpaid invoices, leaving critical components of the heavy infrastructure work undone.

Initially, the national government had planned to finance the infrastructure asset entirely from the exchequer, but low budgetary allocations disrupted the construction schedule. The project received only Sh100 million in the 2022/2023 financial year, a sum substantially below the Sh3 billion required annually to sustain standard construction engineering operations.

Before the work stopped, the contractor completed about 15 per cent of the side channel spillway. This involved initial excavation work, but the main 54-metre-high zoned earth-rock fill dam, the diversion culvert, and the cofferdam structures have not commenced.

Consequently, the state is considering a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework to salvage the project. The infrastructure is designed to hold 93.7 million cubic metres of water and provide 72,000 cubic metres daily for domestic use, while managing the severe seasonal flooding of River Nyando.

The National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority (NWHSA) remains under scrutiny as delayed projects across the country raise financial and structural concerns. Local leaders have repeatedly urged the completion of the reservoir, but without an immediate funding solution, the site remains inactive.