The government is planning to allocate Sh50 million to every sub county for water development projects across the country.

The new funding program is set to be rolled out by the Ministry for Water and Sanitation and is aimed at addressing the scarcity of the resource.

The details emerged during a meeting between the Ministry of Water officials and the Departmental Committee on land environment and natural resources.

Water PS Dr Paul Kipronoh Ronoh said the new model will gear up medium and long term water projects and sustainable water supply of the commodity.

He said the funding program is inclined at complementing the government's water projects.

“This programme is meant to address the immediate need for water in the country and spreads across a number of initiatives embedded in the ministry’s ‘water 10,000 programs rolled out in the country,” he said.

Dr Ronoh said that their engagement with the MPs and other stakeholders is to seek buy in of the program’s rollout.

“We have arrived at critical initiatives in terms of mileage on how to take forward this programme on the framework of funding and ensuring equitable distribution to all the sub counties,” Dr Ronoh.

Departmental Committee on land environment and natural resources chair David Kangogo said that they will mobilise members of the parliament to support the program in its implementation and meet the set goal annually.  

“We are going to support this program in terms of budgeting it, budgeting allocations and making sure that every Kenya has access to water as envisaged in the constitution,” added Kangogo.

Dr Rono said that they will look at the accountability of the resources to ensure that all the projects are catered for and the synergies between the big programs and the minor ones are upheld.

The PS added that they are aiming to ensure the program is financed fully.

“We are still looking at a sustainable model of funding to make sure we reach every Kenyan, especially connecting every household to a source of water,” he said.

According to Dr Ronoh, the funds will also cater for the projects that are dormant and that have challenges to ensure successful implementation to help the citizens.

“Close to 95 per cent of the projects are on course and only a few had challenges in land acquisition and unsuccessful funding model which we have highlighted to deal with in the next 6 months,” Dr Ronoh said. - Wesley Koech, The Standard