Over 5,000 households to benefit from Ministry of Defence water project in Kisii

At least 5,000 homes are set to benefit from a water project constructed by the Ministry of Defence at Nyagancha Village, Bobasi sub-County.

The borehole sunk by soldiers from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) was commissioned on Friday and will benefit communities around Nyagancha Primary School, Nyagancha Health Centre and Nyagancha market.

Major Peter Njenga who represented the Ministry of Defence said the borehole was done at a cost of Sh3 million and has a capacity of pumping 14,000 litres of water per hour.

“The Ministry of Defence is doing projects like this in select parts of the country as a way of ensuring the common man accesses clean water close to him,” said Njenga.

Kisii Agriculture executive Esman Onsarigo, who was at the commissioning, said the county will do all that is required to ensure locals get enough water connectivity.

Onsarigo thanked the soldiers for the borehole and asked the ministry to extend similar gesture in other parts of the county.

Bassi Chache MCA Japheth Ombeo asked the county government to quicken the process of elevating the newly opened Nyagancha Dispensary to a health centre since it now had enough water.

Early this year the Commander Engineers Brigade Stephen Radina led the Engineers’ Water Drilling Squadron team in the handover of a borehole at Landless area in Thika.

Brigadier Radina noted that the project was a success, having attained the required depth. He also pointed out that the borehole was one of the best recharging boreholes in Thika area.

"It has the capability to pump out 12,000 litres of water per hour and was completed in three days," he said.

Dedication of the borehole was conducted by Bishop Moses Mbugua and named "Jungle-1 KDF."

In 2019 Water and Sanitation Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui stopped soldiers from drilling boreholes in Nairobi, saying focus should instead be on repairing, maintaining and replacing existing ones.