Thwake Dam workers resume work after contractor solves pay impasse

Makueni, Wednesday May 10, 2023

KNA by Patrick Nyakundi

A section of workers at Thwake Multi-Purpose Dam who had downed their tools last weekend over delayed April salaries have since returned to work.

The Officials of the China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) Limited, the company tasked with delivering the Vision 2030 project being constructed at the confluence of Rivers Thwake and Athi, clarified on Tuesday that the workers were paid their dues on Monday.

“We have paid the April salaries to all workers- both skilled and unskilled who have resumed work. We regret the inconvenience caused to the workers and their families,” said a source from the company privy to the information, who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

The source also alluded in confidence that the state will remit the delayed payments to facilitate the ongoing construction noting that the CGGC and government officials have held a series of meetings over the strike that have gotten government officials concerned.

The Government of Kenya and the African Development Bank (AfDB) through the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation is implementing the flagship programme to fulfil the long-term country’s development in areas of water, electricity and agriculture especially in the Lower Eastern Region.

The project comprises a multi-purpose dam for water supply, hydropower generation and irrigation development of over 100,000 hectares of land besides providing regulation of flows of River Athi downstream of the dam for flood control mitigation.

Currently the implementation of the dam civil works and related activities that are ongoing is at 83.3 percent however, the project faced delays of some factors namely scaling down of labour force due to Covid-19 pandemic and acute shortage of explosives used to blast rocks.

Also, the contractual completion of November 2022 was not realized due to technical challenges at the river bed that had a lot of poor foundation soil that required further technical investigations to resolve, costing the contractor valuable progress time.

Consequently, Dam Safety Panel of Experts – a leading technical Dam Construction Think-Tank comprising international experts advised that construction completion should allow adequate settlement of Dam Embankment before placement of the concrete face to the embankment.

Recently, the contractor requested for time extension to June 2024 and a further twelve months’ defects liability period-expected to end by July 2025.

However, the project financier AfDB approved a time extension up to February 2024 with a defects of liability period of one year.

Courtesy; K.N.A