WASREB CEO maintains THIWASCO is not merged with Kiambu Water Company.
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| WASREB CEO Eng. Robert Gakubia addressing participants at the public consultation meeting to get consumer concerns on services of THIWASCO at Blue Post Hotel on Tuesday. |
Water Services
Regulatory Board (WASREB) Chief Executive Officer Eng. Robert Gakubia has
maintained that Kiambu County Government was yet to legally take over or merge the
businesses of the existing licensed water service providers in the County.
This means that Thika water and Sewerage Company (THIWASCO) was
still licensed as an independent water company mandated to supply water to
Thika residents.
While speaking at Blue Post Hotel on Tuesday during a public
consultation meeting to get consumer concerns on services of the company, Eng.
Gakubia said that under the Water Act 2016, the said new entity (Kiambu Water
Company) had not yet complied with the regulatory requirements in terms of
viability and sustainability of the new entity thus according to him, the eight
licensed water companies within the County continued existing as individual
entities.
“Just as we had indicated in our advertisement April 2018 in the dailies, we only know of 8
registered water companies in Kiambu County. The provision of water is not
administrative and its services are supposed to be managed locally,” explained
WASREB CEO.
While admitting to the fact that water provision cuts across
the two levels of government, Eng. Gakubia said that their core business was to
ensure sustainable development of water.
“There was no vacuum (in water provision) when devolution
came. All we needed was to just to build on the existing structures. Even though
clustering (of water companies) is good as it will improve water services, but
this cannot be done overnight,” he said.
He added that according to the law, all monies collected by
the THIWASCO from the residents should be used exclusively in Thika to improve
water services.
In the meeting, stakeholders unanimously endorsed THIWASCO’s
request to have its licence renewed after its previous one expired on 10th
July 2018.
THIWASCO Chairman Board of Directors Eng. Joseph Mukora
Kimani took the opportunity to highlight the company’s achievements since its
inception in 2009 from a loss making company to being ranked 2nd
best water company overall on the WASREB impact report.
“It is also ISO 9001 Certified meaning that its operations
are of international standards,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by the company’s Managing
Director Eng. Moses Kinya who said that to date, they served 239,793 households
in an area of approximately 254 km².
“Due to the influx of population, we have been experiencing
several challenges among them a demand for over 46,000m3 water daily
against a supply of 37,000m3 and high operational costs,” said Eng.
Kinya.
The MD however said that they had laid out a very elaborate
strategic plan that would ensure Thika residents received sufficient water
supply until 2048.
Among the projects in store in the near future is the Ksh. 1
Billion Kariminu Water Project near Maryhill School that is expected to inject
into the system, about 15, 000m3 of water/day. It is
funded by the World Bank under performance based project through the Water
Services Regulatory Board (WASREB).
DANIDA is also funding a Ksh. 11 billion programme aimed at
increasing water supply and construction of sewerage services along the
Northern part of Thika town. This project will include the rehabilitation and
upgrading of the existing systems.
Among those present were representatives from the office of Thika Town MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina, members of the Kiambu County water
Committees, area MCAs, representatives from community water projects, Kenya
Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Thika District Business Association (TDBA),
SUPKEM, among others.
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