Almar Water Solutions has been awarded the contract to develop Kenya’s first large-scale desalination plant in Mombasa County.
This is after the County Government of Mombasa advertised for request for proposals in 2016, which saw two investors Almar Water Solutions and Aqua Swiss awarded with the tender of the water desalination project.
While making the announcement, Governor Ali Hassan Joho said the project will be located in the North Mainland zone in the County of Mombasa and will have a capacity of 100,000 cubic meters per day, supplying quality water to over a million people.
He disclosed Mombasa County has suffered acute water shortage for a long time due to lack of its own water source, with the increasing population leading to an increase in demand while the supply from the neighbouring counties keep fluctuating.
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"Currently the demand stands at 200,000 cubic meters against a supply of 42,000 cubic meters," he told the pres on Tuesday, accompanied by officials from the two companies.
On the other hand, the governor revealed that the second company, Aqua Swiss has been awarded the contract of developing another smaller scale desalination plant in Likoni that will have a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters per day.
He said "the development of this desalination project will alleviate the water crisis that Mombasa County is currently experiencing, which for several years has caused interruptions in the drinking water supply."
The County Government of Mombasa has been working on finding permanent and sustainable solutions for the water issue including signing of the Ksh20 billion Water Purchase Agreement for the Mwache Dam project, and setting up desalination plants.
Mombasa currently depends on water supply from Taita Taveta and Kwale counties.
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