African Development Bank has given a Sh8.7 billion loan for a dam to supply water to the proposed Konza city. Speaking in Nairobi yesterday, AfDB regional director of the East African Resource Centre Gabriel Negatu said the financing agreements for the $100 million (Sh8.5 billion) Twake Dam, whose construction begins next year, have already been finalised. Source of water Located in Makueni county, the dam will be the main source of water for Konza Technopolis residents. The water will also be used to generate power for industries in the shilling city. “We will be floating the tender for the construction in the next few months. Konza city is an important project to the country’s Vision 2030 and we want to be part of it,” Mr Negatu said. He said the money will fund Phase One of the dam, which includes civil works to be complete in the next two years. The bank will then provide additional funds to pipe the water to the city and buy turbines for generating 20MW of power. He was speaking during the launch of Silicon Kenya, a report on Kenya’s ICT, at the Hotel Intercontinental, Nairobi Thursday. Information and Technology Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i asked other development institutions and the private sector to enter into similar partnerships to boost the performance of ICT and the economy at large. Konza city, he said, was on course. Sitting on 5,000 acres spread across Makueni and Machakos counties, and located about 60km south-east of Nairobi, Konza city, launched in January, will be built in four, five-year phases under public-private-partnership financing. Once completed, Konza is expected to boost the local business process outsourcing and propel growth in Information Technology enabled services for export to the region and the world.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 14:18:48 +0000
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