A project that will deliver fresh water to people on either side of the Kenya and Uganda border will progress after a bilateral agreement was signed by ministers from both countries. The water will be used for both human consumption and for irrigation, helping to alleviate poverty and provide both water and food security.

 

An agreement 10 years in the making

The transboundary Angololo Water Resources Development Project (AWRDP) was signed into existence by Eric Muga, the Kenyan cabinet secretary for Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, and Ugandan environment minister, Beatrice Atim.

It was first proposed back in 2010 following the Sio Malaba Malakisi River Basin Management Project. Its original vision was to support each country’s development goal – Kenya Vision 2030, and Uganda Vision 2040 – by promoting modern agricultural irrigation practices.

By 2018 the project was included in the African Development Bank (AfDB) Indicative Operations Pipeline. Between 2020 and 2022, the project underwent a major feasibility study that included input from local stakeholders and government officials, as well as international consultants and national technical experts.

With the agreement signed, the project will be implemented by the Nile Basin Initiative, an intergovernmental partnership of 10 Nile basin countries which coordinates the sustainable management and development of the shared Nile Basin water and related resources.

 

Transforming a river basin to alleviate poverty

The project has a total cost of €121 million and will boost water and food security, provide power access, create employment and promote regional integration between the two countries. It will boost food security by transforming existing subsistence farming into large-scale commercial farming of high value crops, through better irrigation in Busia and Bungoma Counties (Kenya) and Tororo, Namisindwa, and Manafwa Districts (Uganda).

 

Construction of a dam and reservoir

This will be achieved through the construction of a dam and new reservoir on the Malaba River, which flows through the Sio Malaba Malakisi River Basin (part of the Lake Victoria sub-basin).

The reservoir’s capacity will be approximately 30-43 million cubic metres, and will provide potable water to 20,000 people and help to irrigate 3,300 hectares. The water, both for human consumption and for irrigation will help to alleviate poverty in the region, improve health, reverse environmental degradation, secure potable supplies and improve sanitation, promote crop and livestock production, and help to protect against the challenges of future climate change.

In total, the project will restore as much as 30 per cent of degraded agricultural land in a catchment area in the Sio Malaba Malakisi River Basin covering 430 kilometres squared, and benefit approximately 300,000 people.

 

Solving the water-energy-food nexus problem

As well as the improvements to irrigation and food security, the project will tackle energy supply issues in the basin. The 40-metre-high dam will generate as much as 1.75 megawatts of hydropower a year, while Muga added that the project’s water-energy nexus will be further enhanced with plans for a floating solar power system on the reservoir.

Atim welcomed the project stating that both Kenyans and Ugandans will benefit from it. “We are blessed with many resources and now it’s time for us to benefit from our natural resources. Let’s do all what it takes to conserve and protect the source of these natural resources.”

She added: “Let’s conserve our environment and stop polluting our lakes and other natural resources.”