The Garissa county government is working with KenGen seek to find long-term measures to curb perennial flooding along Tana River.
The county is seeking more partnerships in the project that will also facilitate generation of adequate electricity.
County secretary Abdi Ali said the government will engage stakeholders at the national level including Warma, Northern Water Works and the National Irrigation Authority to work alongside KenGen.
Ali spoke on Wednesday when he met a delegation from KenGen that paid him a courtesy call in his office.
He said the project aims to put in place canals and dams to control the floods.
KenGen dams annual spillover have devastating consequences especially on farmers and residents along Tana River.
In some cases, the floods end up washing away crops which were ready for harvest and irrigation equipment’s, rendering them destitute.
Last year, MCAs whose wards were hard hit by the floods threatened to officially write to the Senate, to compel them to summon and grill the Energy CS Charles Keter over the recurring flooding.
KenGen manages five dams which hold back at least 2.3 billion cubic meters of water when full. Water which would all flow downstream causing more havoc if the dams were not present.
KenGen says the flooding witnessed in Garissa and Tana River counties is occasioned by the many tributaries and seasonal rivers (lagas) which feed into the Tana River further downstream.
The lagas join after the last dam, Gitaru and carry a lot of unregulated waters which end up busting the river banks.
A KenGen official Ginalius Njiraini said the new approach aims at finding a long lasting solutions to the perennial problem which has always caused a lot of friction between the residents and the energy body.
The KenGen team is also conducting a feasibility study on raising of the Masinga Dam wall by 1.5 metres.
This, KenGen says, will allow the dam to hold more water during rainy season, make more water available downstream during the dry season and also allow KenGen to maintain optimum power generation even during the dry season.
Present were deputy county secretary Abdirashid Mohamed, Water executive Abdi Omar, Agriculture executive Mohamed Shale and the county attorney Ismail Dabar.
Other officials in attendance were Willis Ochieng, Eric Obeko, Florah Mwangangah, Michael Ogonji and Johnson Njeru.
Joseph Wangamadi and Caroline Muthoni represented TerrConn – the consultant firm doing the study.
Via The Star
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