This archive report was first published on 10 December 2019.
Published on December 10, 2019, a recent revelation has shed light on the heavy cost of delays in the construction of the Arror and Kimwarer dams in Kenya.
According to the contract agreement, the Kerio Valley Development Authority would pay a sum equivalent to 0.1 per cent of the contract price for every day there was a delay in the construction of the two dams.
The contract price was set at Sh50 billion, with the smaller Kimwarer Dam project priced at Sh20 billion and the Arror project at Sh28 billion.
However, the contractor, CMC di Ravenna, was allowed to vary the project cost by up to one-tenth of the contract price, which would have granted the contractor another level of insurance at the expense of the public.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has since directed that the Arror project can continue, but with costs capped at Sh15.4 billion.
The fate of the project lies in limbo due to the financial headwinds the contractor has run into, and which have seen it file for bankruptcy protection.
Revelations of graft relating to the procurement for the two dams have cost the jobs of several officials, including former National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich.
