Kenya seeks US$ 1 bln to build dams to fight climate change
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Xinhuia, December 7, 2011
The Kenya government is seeking 1 billion U.S. dollars over the next 10 years to build over 30 large dams in order to mitigate the effects of climate change, said the country's water minister on Tuesday.
Water Minister Charity Ngilu said that the changing rainfall patterns in the country has resulted in drought and floods which is affecting the country's agriculture sector, during the opening ceremony of the two-day International Conference on the Future Management and Development of the Water Sector in the country .
"We are looking for over 1 billion dollars over the next decade to build over 30 dams as part of a marshal plan to develop water storage facilities that will provide water security for Kenya in times of drought caused by the effects of climate change," Ngilu added.
The event has attracted over 100 water development stakeholders to, among other things, assist Kenya amend its laws and policies on the water sector to align with the country's new constitution.
Kenya hopes to learn from the experiences of South Africa and Brazil, which have successfully devolved water delivery services to the local governments.
Ngilu said that water storage program will aim to raise Kenya's water availability from the current 600 cubic meters per capita to over 1,000 before the year 2030.
The minister said that the government hopes to avoid the scenes that were witnessed during this year's drought where water had to be delivered via water trucks to the semi and arid areas.
"The dams will be strategically placed throughout the country in order to eliminate the need for short term emergency interventions to fight drought which are very costly," she said.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water David Stower said that the government is deliberating scaling-up investment in water storage in order to reverse the trend of water scarcity caused by climate change.
"Changing weather patterns has made a significant portion of the country to experience drought, so we hope to build reservoirs to make water available throughout the year," Stower said.
In this financial year, the country will spend 94 million dollars to expand land under irrigation, according to the water ministry.
Stower said that the government aims to expand irrigation at the rate of 40,000 hectares per year.
