By KT Reporter
The construction of Irrigation schemes in Kwania District is yet to commence 12 Years after the launch of the projects.
Between 2013 and 2017, the Ministry of Water and Environment injected 18 billion Shillings into the construction of irrigation schemes in Kwania district to boost agricultural productivity in the area.
The projects were installed in the Olami cell in Aduku town council, Odalowang in Ayabi Sub County, Ajar in Chawente Sub County, Aora, and Akwoyo dam, both in Aduku Sub County.
The projects that cost more than 18 billion Shillings were constructed under the Community Agricultural Infrastructural Improvement Project (CAIIP) funded by the African Development Bank. However, the dams were abandoned a few years after their construction.
Richard Eluk, Ayabi Sub County LCIII Chairman, is concerned that the multi-billion shillings project at Odalowang has been left to waste despite the dire need for the irrigation project.
In February 2021, the Palamyek clan lost a 16-year-old boy in a water accident that occurred at the Olami dam after the project was abandoned.
Lino Odur, a former student of Maruzi Seed Secondary School, also a resident of Anginyi Village in Ongoceng parish, Aduku Sub County, drowned in the dam, where he and three others had gone swimming, an incident that left a devastating loss to the clan, the bereaved family and the entire community.
Boniface Obura, one of the residents, says Odur’s tragic demise brings to five the number of people who have died in the dam from the time it was abandoned.
John Omara, a farmer in Ayabi Sub County, blamed a lack of sensitisation for the multi-billion project’s non-functionality.
George Johnson Ojok Ocen, Kwania District Production Coordinator, attributes the project’s failure to the negligence of the local leaders in protecting the dam.
Geoffrey Alex Ogwal Adyebo, Kwania District LCV Chairman, said the district has plans in place to rehabilitate the dams after the project suffered setbacks-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
