Infrastructure

British Firm to Build Kenya’s Largest Water Reservoir

High Grand Falls Dam will hold 5.6 billion cubic metres of water.

Updated on

November 24, 2022

High Grand Falls Dam Kenya — Ongoing construction of a dam. PHOTO | COURTESY

GBM Limited has submitted a detailed proposal to the Kenyan government to construct the High Grand Falls Dam in Kitui, advancing the long-delayed project.

The UK-based consulting engineering firm won the tender nearly six years ago to finance, design, build, operate, and transfer the dam.

Last September, GBM signed a deal with Kenya to update feasibility studies and other technical details, to determine the costs before finalizing the main contract.

According to the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), the company will implement the project for Sh288 billion, down from the initial estimate of Sh425 billion.

“The evaluation of the project development agreement reports is ongoing. Recommendations of this evaluation process will undergo further scrutiny by the Directorate of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) at the National Treasury before being submitted to Cabinet for approval,” reads a status report by the NIA.

Tender dispute

GBM was hired for the job in September 2018 following a decision by the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPRB), a state agency that resolves tender disputes, to uphold the award of the contract to the firm.

The company won the deal in a bidding featuring seven companies (five of them Chinese), but the National Irrigation Board (NIB) refused to accept its win.

The matter was escalated to the PPRB, which heard the case and ruled in favour of GBM on July 4, 2018. The agency directed the NIB to conclude the bidding process within 30 days.

NIB disregarded the ruling and cancelled the tender.

The PPRB later ruled that the government had no legal basis to cancel the tender or delay its award to the British firm.

The project seemed to have stalled until November last year when Kenya and the UK signed a deal to expedite British investment projects in the country.

Dubbed High Grand Falls Dam, the water reservoir will be built off Kibuka Falls on River Tana – straddling Kitui and Tharaka Nithi counties.

5.6 billion cubic metres

The dam, which was conceived in 2009, covers 165 sq. km and will hold 5.6 billion cubic metres of water that will nourish the Lamu Port and resort city while adding nearly 700MW to the national power grid.

This makes it the largest water storage facility in the country.

Phase one of the hydro dam project is expected to be operational by 2031 with a capacity of 495MW and will cost Sh250 billion according to government records.

The second phase with a capacity of 198MW will come in a year later – bringing the total capacity to 693MW.

Kenya will not raise funds for the project as the contractor will build and operate the dam for 30 years, to recoup its investment, before handing it over to the government.

Africa’s second-largest dam

On completion, the High Grand Falls Dam will be Africa’s second-largest dam after the 5,250-square kilometre Aswan High Dam in Egypt on River Nile.

The High Grand Falls Dam is part of an ambitious endeavour to build 1,000 mega-dams across the country in a bid to revolutionise irrigation-based agriculture.

Other dams include Twake Dam in Makueni, which will nourish Konza City, Badasa Dam (Marsabit), Hare Dam (Nyando), Sio Dam (West Pokot) and Mwache Dam in Kwale.

In 2014, the government said it had finalised procurement with the China State Construction Engineering Corp to build the High Grand Falls Dam at Sh189 billion.

The project was to be funded through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, with firms from China and the Export-Import Bank of China providing the finances.

Months later, Kenya decided to tender the project afresh under the build-operate-transfer model that does not require it to procure any funding for the project.