China signs MoU to fund High Grand Falls Dam project

In 2014, Kenya announced it finalized the procurement process with China State Construction Engineering Corporation to build the High Grand Falls Dam project at a cost of Sh148 billion as a public-private partnership funded by China. The 2015 3rd Annual Report from Kenya's Executive Office of the President stated that an MoU between the Governments of Kenya and China was signed for the construction of the High Grand Falls Multipurpose Project. The dam is located at the common border of Kitui, Tharaka-Nithi, and Tana River counties at Kivuka on River Tana, and it would supply water to the proposed Lamu resort city and port while generating between 500MW and 700MW of electricity. It was later reported the tender had been awarded to the British GBM Engineering Consortium. On July 4, 2018, the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPRB) heard a tender dispute brought by the National Irrigation Board (NIB) and ruled in favor in the company, ordering NIB to conclude the tendering process within 30 days. NIB disregarded the ruling and cancelled the tender

Additional details

The contract amount has been reported between 148 and 150 billion Ksh. The exact timeline of the cancellation of the MoU with China and the agreement with GBM Engineering is unclear.

Number of official sources

1

Number of total sources

5