Day: May 20, 2023

Some 89 Sub-locations in Narok County categorized as marginalized areas, are set to benefit from the Third Policy of Equalization Fund.

Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), James Katule, said the Sub-locations were identified from the data provided by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), collected in the 2019 Censors, that ranked the villages as marginalized.

Katule said his Commission used five parameters to measure the extent of marginalization, which include; the availability of water, electricity, roads and health facilities as enshrined in the Constitution, adding that recently, the Commission added education as a fifth parameter.

The CEO who led a team from his office for a four-day fact-checking in the County, said out of 185 Sub-locations in the County, 89 were ranked in quantile one as the most marginalized areas, 74 Sub- locations ranked in quantile two, 17 ranked in quantile three, while four Sub locations were ranked in quantile five.

‘There is no Sub-location that was ranked quantile five in this County, meaning no Sub location met all the basic requirements that are enshrined in the Constitution,’ he said.

The CRA team met several focus groups from the Sub-counties which confirmed that the Sub-locations identified to benefit from the funds were actually marginalized.

The Commission also took views from the residents on the most needy Sub-locations that had not been mentioned among the 89 Sub-locations.

At the same time, the team from CRA toured various projects that had earlier benefited from the Equalization Fund projects, to verify whether the projects were benefiting the residents.

Some of the projects visited is Olchoro Dispensary in Narok Central Sub-county, which was funded to a tune of Sh. 4.2 Million in the Financial Year 2017/2018 and Sh. 28 Million in 2018/2019 that was used to drill a borehole and build staff houses.

Olchoro Hospital Nursing Officer-In-Charge, Stephen Muchiri, confirmed that the four staff houses built were a great relief to the officers.

However, they pointed out that the water project was yet to benefit the residents, as it developed a technical problem a few days after it was installed.

The team also visited Nkorrikori Dispensary in Narok West Sub-county, that was built using the equalization fund at a tune of Sh11 Million in the 2017/2018 Financial Year and another Sh24 Million in the 2018/2019 Financial Year.

However, two water projects in Suswa Ward, funded at a tune of over Sh. 200 million remain to be ghost projects, as they are yet to be constructed, leaving residents to continue trekking for tens of kilometers in search of water.

The residents of Suswa, who had not been included in the Third Policy, as they had benefited from the First and Second Policy, asked the CRA officials to fast track the water projects that were meant to be constructed in the area, so that the residents can benefit from the intended project.

When the CEO led his team to tour the dam site that was allegedly constructed using the money, the dam was silted and did not hold any water.

The residents led by Narok East Constituency Development Fund Chairman, Stephen Punyua, confirmed that the two water projects namely Augmentation of Suswa Water Supply and Inkorienito Dam, each allocated hundreds of millions were yet to be constructed.

During their visit, the team met and held discussions with the County Governor, Patrick Ntutu, Narok County Commissioner, Isaac Masinde and Narok North Member of Parliament Agnes Pareyio, who confirmed the Sub-locations marked as marginalized.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Angolan head of State João Lourenço Saturday in northern Cuanza Norte province pressed the button that “symbolises” the authorisation to divert the Kwanza river to continue the construction work on the Caculo-Cabaça hydroelectric facility, with capacity of 2,272 megawatts of electricity.

The ceremony paves the way for the beginning of the excavation work in the open air for the construction of Caculo-Cabaça dam wall.

The work for the temporary diversion of the river has two (2) tunnels, and can drain a maximum of 3,400 cubic metres of water.

The project

Caculo-Cabaça Hydroelectric Power Station is located along the middle Kwanza corridor, where the hydroelectric power stations of Cambambe, Capanda and Laúca are also located.

The area of the hydroelectric basin in the dam section is 112, 663 square metres and the total expected average annual flow is of 591 cubic metres per second.

The reservoir, at full storage level at elevation (630), has a storage capacity of 436 cubic metres per hour.

Caculo Cabaça Hydroelectric Plant will produce, on average 8, 566 gigawatts of energy per year.

~This will allow an annual saving of 2.8 million tons of coal and, therefore, a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in nine million tons.

These reductions will bring considerable ecological benefits as they will contribute to the mitigation of environmental pollution and the control of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

Angolan President João Lourenço arrived Saturday in northern Cuanza Norte province to learn of the progress of the construction work of the Caculo-Cabaça Hydroelectric Dam.

The project, estimated at US$4.5 billion, will allow the start of construction work of the “wall” of the dam and the power house, where four 530-megawatt (MW) turbines will be installed, for a total of 2,172 MW.

Funded by Chine, Caculo-Cabaça Hydroelectric Dam is expected to start generating commercial power in October 2026, the period in which the first of the plant’s four turbines comes into operation.

The construction works of Caculo-Cabaça Dam also benefitted from the funding of German government, in a value estimated at US$1.1 billion.

During the project’s second phase launch ceremony, in November 2022, the chairman of China Gezhouba Group International Engineering, Liu Hualiang, put the average annual production from Caculo-Cabaça at 8.566 gigawatts of hydroelectric power.

The capacity of the project, the biggest hydroelectric dam built by a Chinese company in Africa, will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Angola by 7.2 million tons per year.

The “Three Gorges” project includes companies such as Voith, the O & G consortium and other participants.

Three Dams are operating in the Middle Kwanza Corridor. They are Capanda, Lauca and Cambambe.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

Construction work on Caculo-Cabaça Hydroelectric Facility, in northern Cuanza Norte province, is being undertaken by 81 percent of Angolan workforce, a total of 2,047 workers.

The contract, with a physical execution of around 10.52 percent, involves a total of 2,527 workers, including nationals and foreigners.

The Angolans, mostly young, are proud to be part of the project.

Many of them with experience acquired in the construction of the hydroelectric power plants in Capanda, Laúca (Malanje), and Cambambe (Cuanza Norte).

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)