Upper Tana Community Projects Handover Ceremony

Residents of Kiharu and Maragua constituencies, Murang’a County have a reason to celebrate following the commissioning of KenGen’s community projects on Tuesday, March 20, at Kiambaa Primary School.

Mirira Primary School and Kiambaa Primary School are the beneficiaries of upgraded classrooms, landscaping, new desks, and a refurbished water tank; while the residents of Mirira now have a brand new footpath courtesy of a grant from the Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF).

KenGen Chairman Joshua Choge and Director of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Eng. Simon Ngure try out the new desks at Kiambaa Primary School.

Speaking during the event, the guest of honor Mr. Joshua Choge, KenGen’s Chairman, praised the Company’s efforts in implementing Corporate Social Investment projects with the direct neighbours living near the Upper Tana Power station.  Mr. Choge pledged that KenGen, through the KenGen Foundation, will always strive to do more in improving the livelihoods of communities living near the Company’s installations.

READ MORE: Upper Tana World Bank CDCF Project Kicks Off With Signing of MoU.

Director of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Eng. Simon Ngure, Environment & CDM Manager Joshua Were, Upper Tana Power Stations Assistant Manager Eng. Elijah Kibathi, and acting KenGen Foundation Managing Trustee Anthony Igecha accompanied the Chairman. Other guests included the MP for Maragua Hon. Mary Waithera the Deputy County Commissioner Mr. Macharia Mwangi, among others.

(L-R) Environment & CDM Manager Joshua Were, Tana Power Station Assistant Manager Eng. Elijah Kimathi, KenGen Chairman Joshua Choge, Director of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Eng. Simon Ngure, with Kiharu Constituency Assistant Chief Bernard Kagoto, acting KenGen Foundation Managing Trustee Anthony Igecha, and Chief Engineer Clean Development Mechanism James Metto at the Mirira Footpath.

The World Bank CDCF Community Projects grant came as a result of carbon credits earned from the redevelopment of Tana Hydropower Station under the Clean Development Mechanism project. It is through the plant’s recent redevelopment that additional renewable energy is annually generated, which resulted in the reduced use of fossil fuels, and consequently reduction of greenhouse gases [GHG] emissions.

ALSO READ: Upper Tana’s World Bank CDCF Projects On Course

The interventions at the two schools were necessitated by the poor infrastructures and sanitation facilities at the institutions leading to unfavorable learning environment, and consequently poor examinations performances.

Kiambaa Primary School, with a total of 9 classrooms, had un-plastered walls and floors, and lacked window shutters, exposing the approximately 260 pupils to cold, rain and wind. Its blackboards were worn out, and the desks were broken and unevenly finished, leading to injuries from splinters and falls. In addition, the lack of verandah corridor outside each block, left pupils exposed during the rainy seasons.

The newly upgraded Kiambaa Primary School.

The renovation of Mirira Primary School includes the cementing of all classrooms floors to curb the jigger menace, and the refurbishment of their water tank and rainwater collection gutters to ensure the sustainable availability of water through out the year. The establishment of a woodlot will boost the school feeding program with cheap alternative source of wood fuel.

MORE: Foundation Signs Its First World Bank Grant

Redevelopment of KenGen’s Tana Power Station was registered as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in October 2011 with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). KenGen signed the Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement (ERPA) with International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as Trustee of the Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF). In the agreement, KenGen was to spend approximately 10% of the funds received from sale of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) to a Community Benefit Project.

The Honorable MP for Maragua Ms. Mary Waithera was delighted with KenGen’s support towards her constituency, and praised the Company’s CSR objective of being a responsible corporate citizen.

An aerial view of the Mirira Footpath, Kiharu Constituency.

The CDCF pioneers projects that benefit local communities in some of the poorest areas of the world. The Fund is a public-private initiative designed in cooperation with the International Emissions Trading Association and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change emanating from projects that generate emission reductions under the CDM process.

Together with the KenGen Foundation, the Company’s main driver of sustainable community projects, KenGen also constructed the Mirira Dam Footpath using the CDCF funds, benefitting community members from the six villages of Kamingi, Kairo, Gakindu, Matithi, Kayuyu and Kiangojo, by connecting them to the market in Makutano Town. The footpath also directly benefits the staff and students of Mirira Secondary Day School, and has significantly improved neighbourliness between the communities living across both sides of Mirira River.

Check out the pic-roll below on how the day was.

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–Ernest Nyamasyo, Communication Officer