Investment firm Centum has signed a Sh321.15 million contract with Dubai-based Metito (Overseas) Ltd to build a seawater desalination plant for its planned Vipingo housing project in Kilifi.
The one-year deal gives Metito responsibility for a facility that will turn salty Indian Ocean water into usable water by removing saline minerals. Centum said the plant should be completed by September 2019.
According to the company, the proposed installation will produce 3,000 cubic meters of water daily. Centum described it as one of the largest private projects of its kind in the region.
The desalination plant is part of infrastructure work at the 10,254-acre mixed-use Vipingo Development, where Centum is targeting mid- to high-income homebuyers as well as investors in manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and retail.
In its annual report for the year to March 2018, published in August, Centum said its approach at Vipingo was to master-develop sites and create commercial momentum for investors to build new urban centres.
The project comes against a long-running water shortage on the coast. Some households in the region have had to rely on portable containers to desalinate seawater for domestic use.
Kilifi County depends on Baricho Water Works in Malindi for fresh water, and that supply also supports Mombasa. The coastal city has no fresh water source of its own and also relies on Mzima Springs in Taita Taveta, Tiwi boreholes and Marere Water Supply in Kwale County.
The government has been planning large-scale desalination plants since 2016, with Mombasa and Lamu among the main focus areas.
In October, the Mombasa County Assembly approved Governor Hassan Joho’s plan to build two seawater desalination plants with a combined proposed daily output of 130,000 cubic meters of fresh water. Those contracts were separately awarded to Spanish and Swiss firms.
