A fresh standoff has emerged at the Ksh. 24 billion Karimenu II dam water project in Gatundu North, Kiambu County after angry affected persons ejected all workers out of the construction site over unsettled compensation.
The fuming locals yesterday forced all excavator operators at the site to dig trenches at all the entrances and exits of the construction site blocking all movements before they forced all the workers out of the site in full glare of armed police officers.
The aggrieved locals who are affected in the phase 2 of the project claim that the government has failed to honor its promise of disbursing their dues months after they were promised full payment.
The locals are demanding Sh 2.2 billion as compensation for land and crop damages, money that will see the government acquire 383 acres of more land that will hasten construction works.
Led by Kamau Gathanji, the irate locals claimed that the Chinese contractor has already started excavating their land even before they are compensated threatening to keep guard of their property until they are fully paid.
Delays to compensate them, the locals decried that the government has impoverished them as they can no longer farm on their land or put-up new structures, a situation that has compelled them to take loans for survival.
Gathanji’s sentiments were echoed by Jane Wanjiru who claimed that the government has been scheming to deprive them of their ancestral land which she vowed to protect to death.
Regina Wanjiru, another affected resident, said the contractor has already completed the diversion tunnel and intake tower foundation which will force them to leave their land.
Wanjiru called on the government to expedite the payment process to relieve them of many anguishes they have continued to grapple with among them inability to pay school fees, provide basic needs for their families alongside other survival needs.
Mathew Mukuha, another local said that besides delay in compensation, the contractor has been left a trail of destruction through explosives that he has been executing without the knowledge of locals.
Mukuha said that several houses have been shaken in the process alongside causing trauma and shock among locals.
The residents are now calling on the National Land Commission (NLC) which has been executing the compensation process and Athi Water Services that is implementing the project to intervene and solve the prevailing tussle to allow smooth construction works.
Construction of the dam that is expected to boost water supply in Thika, Juja, Ruiru and parts of Nairobi has been hanging in balance since its construction began in 2019.
In the first phase of the project, residents held demonstrations and on several occasions kicked the Chinese contractor out of their land further derailing the project.
Efforts to seek a comment from the two mentioned government entities were futile. However, an officer from Athi Water Services who sought anonymity blamed NLC for delaying the payments saying they had finalized all the documentation.
The project is being funded by the government and the China Exim Bank and is being implemented through a joint venture between International Holding Corporation (AVIC) and Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute.
In September last year, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation Joseph Wairagu insisted that the project must be completed two to three months before the set deadline of June 2022.
Completion time of the project that is being built on a 600-acre plot has however continued to face delays due to the sustained tussles between the government and the land owners.
Initially, the construction was expected to end in December 2020 after 36 months of work according to the schedule in a contract that was signed in May 2017.
The mega project has three main components among them the dam, water treatment plant of capacity 70,000m3/d and 67km of raw and treated water pipeline ranging from DN 500mm to 1,000mm.
Two terminal tanks will also be constructed of capacities 23,500m3 and 3,000m3 in Ruiru and Juja respectively.
Karimenu II Dam project entails construction of a dam of 59m height and 26.5 Million m3/d storage volume to produce 70,000m3/d per day of drinking water.