Ruto Sets New Completion Deadline for Thwake Dam After Sh10.6 Billion Boost

President William Ruto has announced that construction on the Thwake Multipurpose Dam in Kitui will resume with fresh government funding, projecting completion by April 2027.

Speaking during a development tour, the president said the country has secured Sh10.6 billion to finish the project, which sits at the confluence of the Athi and Thwake rivers on the border of Kitui and Makueni counties.

Thwake ranks among Kenya's largest dam undertakings, with a designed capacity to store 688 million cubic metres of water once complete. The reservoir is expected to supply water to over 1.3 million residents across Kitui, Makueni and Machakos counties.

The president used the announcement to address years of criticism over delays on the project, telling residents that political disagreements should not be allowed to hold back development work meant for ordinary taxpayers.

Ruto pointed to the National Infrastructure Fund as the vehicle now supporting the completion push, saying the mechanism allows government to plan and finance large projects such as dams, roads and airports more predictably than before.

According to the president, the fund has already mobilised Sh350 billion that can be channelled toward commercially viable infrastructure projects across the country.

Thwake has faced repeated setbacks since construction began in March 2018, with completion dates pushed back several times due to funding gaps, contractual disputes and supply chain disruptions tied to global events including the war in Ukraine.

The project reached roughly 94 percent physical completion by late 2025, according to Water ministry officials, with remaining works focused on concrete facing on the dam wall and installation of hydromechanical equipment.

Contractor China Gezhouba Group Company Limited has been undertaking the civil works, with Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation serving as the supervising consultant on the site.

The dam forms the first of four planned phases under the Thwake Multipurpose Water Development Programme, which will later include hydropower generation of about 20 megawatts, treated water supply and an irrigation scheme covering roughly 40,000 hectares of farmland.

The African Development Bank has co-financed the project alongside the Kenyan government, and in May approved an additional €68.39 million to secure the dam's completion and long term structural safety, including reinforcement of its foundations.

Government officials have previously cited compensation disputes, embankment settlement requirements and a shortage of blasting explosives as contributing factors behind the project's prolonged timeline.

The Thwake project also anchors the government's wider plan to build 50 mega dams nationally, an initiative the administration has said could cost about Sh1.5 trillion and bring close to two million acres of farmland under irrigation.