The rehabilitation of the Yatta Canal officially launched by the deputy president William Ruto has will be completed in the next five months, head engineer Charles Kamau has said.
This was announced during a visit to the site on Thursday by Yatta MP Francis Mwangangi, managing director of Yatta Water Company Augustine Mboya, Yatta deputy county commissioner Allan Machari among other administrators.
The head engineer explained that the delay of the project was caused by fund-related problems.
"The main delay cause was that this project is a donor-funded project which does not attract any VAT. So there was a slight delay in getting the exemption, and immediately after getting the exemption there was also another delay in getting the specific exemption for each particular item of the project," said Kamau.
The Yatta MP urged the contractors to increase the workforce to speed up the project.
However, a section of Yatta residents who spoke to this writer claimed that the delay was politically instigated by Mwangangi's opponents.
They said that the construction of the canal was one of Mwangangi's promises to Yatta residents during the 2013 campaigns.