Migori County’s Department of Water and Energy is optimistic about achieving a budget absorption rate of over 90 percent for the current financial year, despite battling persistent infrastructure vandalism and chronic delays in donor funding.

The assurance follows an oversight report from the County Assembly’s Water and Energy Committee, which requested a comprehensive status update on regional water projects that remained non-operational during the previous financial year.

Responding to the committee, the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Water and Energy, Silas Owuor, assured residents that the department is actively addressing both stalled and operational water projects to boost regional access.

According to Owuor, the county targeted 84 water projects across the region for the 2025–2026 financial year.

Out of these, 54 have been fully completed and verified, while the remaining 30 are under active implementation.

“We are optimistic that by the end of this financial year, our rate of absorption will be more than 90 percent,” Owuor stated.

“Under the leadership of Governor Ochilo Ayacko, we are up to the task to deliver and ensure we attain the target of a 500-meter radius from one water point to the other.”

The department revealed it has currently achieved about 40% of its 500-meter radius access goal. This marks a significant shift from the historical practice of scattering projects randomly to executing a strictly regulated, strategic layout aligned with Vision 2030 objectives.

Vandalism and Dry Boreholes Stall Progress

Despite the positive outlook, severe bottlenecks remain. The CECM highlighted the Nyabikondo water project in Ntimaru West as a primary casualty of recurring criminal activity.

Completed in the 2023–2024 financial year, the project functioned continuously until January 2026, when thieves allegedly stole all its solar panels.

“This is the second time we purchased solar panels for this project and they were vandalized,” Owuor said, noting that the case has been handed over to security officers.

“This is a security matter, and we are asking the public to kindly help us protect these projects, which are meaningful to the society.”

The department also defended its decision to decommission the Manyera borehole, which was drilled during the 2021–2022 fiscal year. The county declared it a “dry borehole” due to an unsustainably low water recharge rate of less than one cubic meter.

Responding to queries regarding proper technical oversight, Owuor confirmed that professional geological surveys were conducted three times, noting that survey scanning inherently operates on probabilities.

“We saw the sense that we could not equip that borehole because we were not going to get value for money,” he explained. “We request the community to be patient as we budget for a new borehole in that village.”

Funding delays resolved

Addressing projects hit by financial constraints, Owuor noted that the Taragai water project stalled during the 2024–2025 financial year after expected donor funding failed to materialize, forcing its temporary removal from the implementation system. The department plans to reinstate the project in the upcoming financial year.

Conversely, work on the Marera borehole project in Central Kamagambo is set to resume next week following the late receipt of donor funds last week.

Migori is one of only 19 counties nationwide that qualified for the specific donor program. Meanwhile, the Baghdad project in Isbania and the God Kwach water project were confirmed as fully operational and yielding high water volumes.

Expanding urban utility and clean energy

Beyond rural boreholes, the department reported significant strides in urban infrastructure and clean energy.

Through the county’s water utility company, Migori County Water and Sanitation Company (MIWASCO), approximately 15 kilometers of pipeline extensions were laid down this financial year.

This expansion has brought clean water connectivity in urban setups to 65 percent, serving roughly 15,000 metered customers.

On renewable energy, the CECM announced that the county has successfully installed over 120 solar floodlights across various market centers this financial year to boost local security and support the evening economy.

“Whatever is pending, we will make sure that in the next financial year, we do what is necessary to make people get water as a necessity,” Owuor concluded.