A Dutch investment firm has agreed to provide $63 million (Sh8.14 billion) to help lower water prices from a public-private partnership (PPP)-backed project that targets Mombasa and Kilifi counties.
The National Treasury disclosures show that Invest International, a Dutch investment firm committed to providing the money in the form of a grant, which is a quarter of the Sh32.96 billion ($255 million) needed to fund the Sabaki Water Carrier Project.
Consumer tariffs for water from the project are projected at between Sh160 and Sh170 per cubic metre. The Treasury has not disclosed whether these tariffs have already factored in the grant.
The Treasury said the Sh8.14 billion, which will be a grant, will help to ensure affordable prices of water from the project and benefit as many locals as possible in the two counties.
“Invest International, a Dutch Impact Investor, has committed to provide a grant of 25 percent of the project cost –$63 million, to improve the affordability of the project’s tariffs,” says the Treasury in the project notes.
“This proposed tariff is contingent upon project negotiations, the approval of the project’s comprehensive financing plan, and the final tariff structure by the Water Services Regulatory Board as per regulatory requirements.”
But the projected tariffs for water from this project are higher than the average price of Sh100 for a cubic metre at most kiosks in Mombasa.
The Baricho aquifer along the Sabaki River is one of the major sources of potable water in the coastal region. The aquifer accounts for an estimated 64 percent of the water supplied to Mombasa County.
The PPP project is fronted by a consortium led by Utility Partners One LLP and will, upon completion, see 80,000 cubic metres of water tapped from the aquifer and supplied to residents and businesses in the two counties every day.
The construction of a seven-megawatt captive solar power plant is also part of the Sabaki Water Carrier Project.
The PPP Directorate approved the project to proceed to contract negotiations in February this year, and ground breaking is anticipated to be done in the current financial year that ends in June 2026.
The project is set to take four years, after which Utility Partners One LLP and associates will operate and maintain it for 20 years to recoup their investment, then hand it to the government.
Sabaki Water Carrier is one of the two PPP-backed water projects that the government is banking on to ease the crisis of clean water supply countrywide. The other one is the Lamu Water Desalination Plant, whose total cost is Sh106.4 billion. The PPP Directorate cleared the project to go for contract negotiations last April.
