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EABL provides water to Thika residents

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 23 – The East African Breweries Limited (EABL) Foundation on Monday commissioned two water and sanitation facilities in Thika in its efforts to contribute towards meeting Kenya\’s Vision 2030.

EABL Head of Supply Chain Gerald Githinji said the Water of Life initiative is part of the foundation\’s attempt to continue providing sustainable development to the communities in which it operates.

"Our target is to impact one million people every year. We plan to have five million people impacted in Kenya by the year 2015," he said.

The initiative which is carried out in partnership with local NGO Ecotact has provided safe drinking and sanitation water to 500,000 beneficiaries this financial year.

Ecotact CEO, David Kuria, who recently won an international award in Dubai for his Ikotoilets initiative, said the programme goes beyond providing sanitation facilities, but helps to conserve the environment.

"We are targeting to cover all the urban centres in Kenya. We are able to generate biogas from human waste. We have also in the last year been harvesting urine from the Ikotoilets to convert for agriculture. So there has been a lot of thought into the Ikotoilets beyond the toilet," he said.

According to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) database, the proportion of people in Kenya with access to water is 83 percent in urban areas and 46 percent in rural areas. For sanitation the percentage is 46 percent- urban and 41 percent- rural.

The MDG targets are 72.5 percent for safe water coverage (93.5 percent in urban areas; 65 percent in rural areas) and 70 percent basic sanitation coverage (74 percent – urban; 68.5 percent- rural).

Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation Chief Public Health Officer Kepha Ombacho encouraged more public-private partnership initiatives to continue to benefit wananchi.

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"As a ministry our purpose is to give an enabling environment for all stakeholders to be able to participate in trying to upscale sanitation in this country. We should be able to enhance public-private partnerships," he said.

EABL Foundation has invested in several other facilities across the country including Machakos, Makueni, Nanyuki and Embu.

The two facilities that cost Sh5 million, aim to serve close to 48,000 residents in Thika with fully fitted male and female toilets and showers, a water tank and vending point.

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