NAIROBI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said
on Thursday that his government plans to implement the strategic
water storage program that will increase the number of people
connected to safe piped water by nine million by 2022.
The Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) cycle 2018 implemented by the
ministry of water and sanitation will also increase the proportion
of households with access to safe drinking water from 60-80 percent
in the next five years, with a special focus on informal
settlements and arid areas.
Kenyatta who launched the program said the provision of water to
Kenyans was an underlying enabler for the attainment of his
administration's Big Four development agenda.
He said the perennial cycles of serious droughts, floods, drying
up of rivers, wells, springs and the lowering of the water table
can be attributed to the twin effects of climate change and
destruction of forests.
To mitigate this problem, Kenyatta said, Kenyans need to plant
and sustain the upwards of 3 billion new trees covering 30,000
square km over the next half decade.
"Protecting our environment will guarantee the continuity of
supply of our water sources. Failure is, therefore, not an option,"
Kenyatta said.
Besides the water reservoirs, Kenyatta announced that the Kenya
Towns Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Program -- supported
by the African Development Bank -- will soon be launched in 22
urban centers across 28 counties.
He said that under the water strategic program, the construction
of three dams have commenced while two others dams are in their
final stages of stake-holder engagement.
The president directed relevant ministries to ensure all
affected communities where the water reservoirs will be constructed
are adequately engaged on matters of safety.
He said regular inspection and surveillance must become a matter
of routine. "The projects must also be executed in a manner that
assures tax-payers get value for money in terms of cost and the
desired impact," said Kenyatta.
He said that despite significant progress made during his first
term in office in up-scaling the number of people accessing
reliable and clean water, the demand for the commodity keeps rising
due to population pressure.
For universal water access to be achieved, the country requires
huge financial resources, according to the president. Enditem