The Umaa and Badassa dams which gobbled up Sh3.342 billion of taxpayer funds before they stalled without storing a cubic metre of water are back from the dead.
Over six years after stalling, the Ministry of Water and Sanitation plans to pump more billions into reviving the projects.
The projects fall under the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority, previously known as the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation (NWCPC), the parastatal that implements water conservation projects on behalf of the Water ministry.
Both the ministry and the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority were cagey on the amounts that will be spent to complete the works.
However, Sunday Nation established that the government has injected Sh380,844,235 to consultancy services for revival of the two projects.
As the plans continue, those accused of embezzling funds meant for the projects have never been brought to justice to date despite numerous investigations being conducted in efforts to “unearth the faces who ate money meant for the dams.”
Instead of facing justice for squandering public funds in projects that bore no fruits, some of the officials fingered out for being responsible for the grounding of the projects still hold senior positions in government while others won elective seats in the last General Election.
To date, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has never given a report of investigations into claims of bribery and embezzlement of funds connected to construction of the two dams.
The government first admitted in July 2013 that the construction of the two dams had been mismanaged largely due to faulty design, but the grapevine had it that the projects had become cash cows for government officials who were irregularly pushing to benefit from changing designs and varying project costs.
The contractor for Umaa dam, Draft and Development Engineers, requested to vary the initial cost of the project to Sh1.48 billion
In 2013, the NWCPC varied the cost of Badasa dam by an additional Sh1.98 billion from Sh1.7 billion at tendering in 2009, an action that contravened the public procurement regulations which state that costs can only be increased by a maximum of 15 per cent after which the project must be subjected to a fresh tendering process.
On Wednesday, Water CS Simon Chelugui told Sunday Nation that the new date for completion of Badassa dam is February 5, 2020, with the new contract period set at 37 months.
“The works grounded in 2013 after contractual issues arose between the contractors (Midroc Drilling Company) and the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation. But the issues have now being resolved,” Mr Chelugui said.
According to the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority, procurement of geotechnical investigations have been done and an agreement for works drafted.
The agreement will be signed after the payment of Sh178,287,800 million to Tertiary Consulting Engineers, a consultancy firm which reviewed construction work status and soundness of constructed works.
The corporation also signed a Sh202,556,435 deal with a company known as SMEC Kenya Ltd to carry out review of the design, check the soundness of the existing structures and supervise the remaining construction works at Umaa dam.
Umaa dam, which is being constructed in Kitui, stalled in January 2011, a month after the contractor invited the EACC to audit the project after weeks of public spats between then Water minister Charity Ngilu and her assistant Mwangi Kiunjuri.
During investigations, it was revealed that the contractor awarded the Sh824 million project had no prior experience in building dams.
The construction of Umaa dam started in January 2009 and, if things went well, the project could have been completed in January 2011.
By the time the project stalled in 2011, a total of Sh575 million out of an initial budget of Sh800 million had already been paid.
