The Project Development Agreement (PDA) was signed today by the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) and the British construction company GBM Consortium Limited.
It outlines the final project studies and designs that will be carried out before the PPP Committee evaluates and decides whether to award, close the financial deal, and negotiate a concession agreement for the construction of the High Grand Falls, one of the 100 mega-dams targeted for construction under the Bottom Up Economic Model.
With the main reservoir encompassing an area of more than 165 square kilometres, the High Grand Falls dam is a privately launched plan under the Public Private Partnership concept to be built at the confluence of River Mutonga and River Tana, immediately after the Seven Folks cascade project.
The dam will not only be the greatest fresh water dam in Africa after the Aswan dam in Egypt, which was constructed along the Nile, but it will also be the largest government project ever undertaken with the intention of making a meaningful dent in the enduring problems of food security, household water supply, and power.
Once built, the dam will provide more than 5.6 billion cubic metres of water to irrigate 400,000 acres of land while producing up to 1000 Megawatts of hydropower.
The British investor is now authorised to establish a base at the project location in the counties of Kitui and Tharaka and to start the necessary preparations, including feasibility studies.
The investor must complete the technical financial and economic feasibility, ground mapping and geological drilling, ESIA, risk assessment, and other analyses to identify the real scope within the first six months, per the PDA.
Mr Michael Short, the Head of GBM Consortium Limited signed on behalf of the private investor while Eng Charles Muasya, the acting Chief Executive Officer for National Irrigation Authority; the Contracting Authority signed on behalf of the Government of Kenya.
Theo Clarke, the UK Trade Envoy to Kenya, and Principal Secretaries Ephantus Kimotho (Irrigation) and Abubakar Hassan Abubakar (Trade and Investments) all attended the signing event at Maji House in Nairobi.
