Formed in 1979, the Lake Basin Development Authority, better known by its acronym LBDA, seeks to accomplish the following in its 2008- 2012 Strategic Plan:
• Create 250,000 jobs, both directly and indirectly; • Cover 120,000 hectares of farmland; • Store 18 million cubic metres of water; • A multi-purpose water storage capacity of 1,175 billion cubic metres; • Irrigate 70,000 hectares of farmland specifically for food security; • Save Sh1 billion per year through control of flooding; and, • Generate 228 megawatts of power per day.
The Lake Basin Region, LBDA’s area ofjurisdiction, which covers 39,000 squarekilometres, does not lack for water. It has fivemajor rivers – Yala, Nzoia, Sondu, Nyando andMigori - that drain into Lake Victoria. And, thelake’s own waters cover 4,000 square kilometres.
The abundance of water, especially from the rivers, is both a blessing and challenge. Flooding is a major source of destruction of settlements, farmland, infrastructure and environmental degradation. This explains why for LBDA construction of dams is important because it helps control flooding, stores water for irrigation and generates electricity.
| It is clear that LBDA’s projects revolve around water and electricity. Indeed, the authority is clear that the driving factor in the development of the Lake Basin Region - which covers what were until August 2010 the provinces of Nyanza, Western and parts of Rift Valley - is energy.
That explains why LBDA would target a daily generation of 229 megawatts of power as priority in its current Strategic Plan and it is why the authority’s key planned projects include the Magwagwa Multi-purpose Dam, Nandi Forest Multi-purpose Dam, Webuye-Teremi Multipurpose Dam and Renewable Energy: Bio-Fuels and Mini-hydropower Generation.
All these projects are aimed at enhancing sustainable
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development, food security, flood control and power generation. It was LBDA that identified Sondu Miriu as an energy area, but the 180 megawatt project has since been taken over by KenGen, Kenya’s electricity generating company.
According to LBDA, when completed the Magwagwa Multi-purpose Dam together with Sondu Miriu should control flooding and provide sufficient water for the irrigation of the Kano and Nyakach plains.
The site of the Magwagwa Dam is the Sondu Miriu River in the counties of Nyamira and Buret. When completed the dam will regulate the flow of the river, conserve catchments, provide water for 600,000 people and employ 100 others.
It will also conserve 3,160 square kilometres of land as well as help irrigate 15,000 hectares and produce 120 megawatts of hydro-power.
Together the Magwagwa and Sondu/Miriu projects will also supply clean water for domestic purposes and for livestock to the local communities as well as help boost the development of fisheries, agriculture and tourism.
Conversely, control of flooding will contribute significantly to conservation of the environment.
Situated in Bungoma East, the Webuye-Teremi Multi-purpose Dam, whose hydro-power capacity will start at 30 megawatts with planned expansion, will provide water for irrigation, supply clean water to the Webuye County Council and its environs and mitigate flooding downstream.
It will also conserve 8,240 square kilometres of land, supply water to 600,000 people, with 8,000 households benefiting from water for irrigation.
On River Yala, LBDA plans a 20 megawatt hydro-plant at Kibunjoyi in Nandi South. It will also provide water for an estimated 800,000 people, conserve 17,000 square kilometres of land and enhance the development of fisheries, tourism and irrigation in Kapsabet and Kakamega and all the way to Lake Victoria.
LBDA also plans to construct mini-hydropower projects such as the 18 megawatt Kuja/Migori project in Rongo which is expected to provide water for irrigation of 20,000 hectares which will benefit 10,000 households.
The project will also conserve 300 square kilometres of catchment and create 25 jobs.
LBDA has made development of inland fisheries and fish farming a priority. The authority seeks to reverse the dwindling resources of Lake Victoria. It has six centres for fish farming whose objective is to develop productive capture fisheries.
Conservation is a key component of LBDA’s management of water resources. Its Regional Catchment Conservation and Rehabilitation Programme is aimed at rehabilitating degraded catchments and protecting riverbanks.
The authority has committed significant resources to conservation in Mt Elgon, the Mau and Cherangany areas which are crucial to protecting water resources.
Towards this end LBDA has started tree nurseries and is also training youth groups in producing quality tree seedlings for the twin purposes of reforesting and to benefit local communities through bio-fuels. The authority’s aim is to grow this into an industry.
This shows why LBDA says it is committed to integrated community initiatives and development. The authority had this as its original mission statement:
“To spearhead development in the Lake Basin Region by undertaking integrated planning and sustainable management of the resources through the participation of the local people as key stakeholders.”
And in its 2008 to 2012 Strategic Plan LBDA has sharpened this mission statement to read thus:
“To catalyse the economic development of the Lake Basin Region in Kenya through promotion and implementation of resource-based investments and effective river basin-based integrated community development initiatives.”
It is why it seeks to commercialise its Rice Mills at Kibos. This will be achieved through upgrading milling capacity utilisation to over 30 per cent of the design capacity and to attain a 10 per cent capital return on investment, and supporting farmers by purchasing and milling over 7,200 tonnes of paddy per year.
Western, Nyanza and Rift Valley regions of Kenya have great potential for tourism. To tap into this and develop it into a major revenue earner for the people in its jurisdiction LBDA has embarked on the development of Ruma National Park, Simbi, Nyaima, Otok, Ogot, Ramogi, Kit Mikay, Mt Elgon and Kakamega Forest as tourist attractions.
This should encourage private investors to establish eco-lodges and other attractions in the area as well as promote conferencing.
Through donor and Government funding and private, public partnerships (PPP), LBDA will change the life and livelihoods of the people of the Lake Basin Region.