The Angololo Water Resources Development Project (AWDP) is located on the trans-boundary Malaba River that is between Kenya and Uganda and it falls within the Sio-Malaba Malakisi (SMM) River Basin within the Lake Victoria sub basin. The project consists of a proposed 30 metre high dam with a reservoir capacity of 43.0 million cubic metres that will supply potable water to 20,000 people and irrigate 3,300 hectares (1,180 Ha in Kenya and 2,120 Ha in Uganda). The dam will generate 1.75MW hydropower. The project has a catchment area of 430 kilometres squared. In total the Angololo Water Resources Development Project is expected to benefit at least 127,300 people from Tororo, Manafwa, and Namisindwa districts in Eastern Uganda and Busia and Bungoma Counties in Kenya through employment creation, irrigated agriculture, piped water supply, hydropower generation, and livestock and fisheries production.
The Angololo project was identified by Kenya and Uganda in collaboration with Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) through its Sio Malaba Malakisi (SMM) River Basin Management (RBM) project. NELSAP-CU conducted its pre-feasibility studies in 2010 with grant financing from the Royal Government of Sweden and the Royal Government of Norway. Following this identification study, the Governments of Kenya and Uganda formally requested NELSAP to integrate it into its pipeline of natural resources projects for further appraising and development.
The project was approved during the 18th Nile Equatorial Lakes Council of Ministers (NELCOM) meeting held in Entebbe, Uganda on 13th October 2015 and was included into the African Development Bank (AfDB) pipeline (IOP) for the year 2016 - 18 to seek possible funding support. NELSAP-CU/NBI was mandated in the signed MOU between Uganda and Kenya to support in mobilization of resources for preparation of the investment project. NELSAP- CU approached AfDB Eastern Africa Regional Centre (EARC) for funding to undertake preparation studies.
The project has been rated as a priority project in both the AU NEPAD IPPF indicative project pipeline (2016-2020) and the countries ADF-14 Programming Cycle.
NELSAP-CU is now undertaking preparatory work. This involves a full feasibility study, conceptual and detailed designs, preparing tender documents, conducting social and environmental impact assessment (ESIA) developing a resettlement and
compensation action plan (RCAP) and project implementation preparation, in order to secure the financing required to implement the project.
This phase of the project will be implemented over a duration of 24 months and it will enhance cooperation between Kenya and Uganda as they jointly develop water resources of Malaba River.
