Mwea rice farmers have been assured that a German contractor hired for the Sh19 billion Thika dam project is already on the ground.
Water and Irrigation Principal Secretary Zeinab Hussein said the project was well funded by both the Japanese and Kenyan Government and they would ensure it was fully implemented.
Ms Hussein said the contractor would from Friday start securing the dam site while preparatory works had started.
Hussein said when President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto launched the mega dam on November 23, last year, the move was a clear indicator that the project was on course.
The PS, who visited the site yesterday, accompanied by the project manager and an engineer for the firm awarded the contract, gave an undertaking that once preparatory works were over within the next one month, major works would begin.
“If you look at the time the President came here, the Christmas season was beckoning and that is why the few staffers the contractor had brought on the ground went away. But this does not mean that the project was abandoned," she clarified.
She also said some farmers who have crops at the site had been put on notice to ensure they vacate the area once their crops mature. Hussein said the contractor had been given three years to complete the project.
