Day: April 18, 2024

Nyanza Regional Commissioner Flora Mworoa has revealed that over 1,000 households have been displaced by the raging floods, with at least 6,302 people adversely affected.

Mworoa attributed this to heavy downpours across the Nyanza Region. She said the displaced households still struggling with the flood are found in Kisumu, Siaya, Migori, and Homa Bay Counties.

‘The most affected areas are Nyando and Kadibo, both in Kisumu, which has 4,362 households affected with 34 families displaced; Migori registered 1,280 households with 53 displaced, mostly in Nyatike; Siaya has 80 households with 6 families displaced,” Mworoa said.

She added statistics for families in Homabay as 1,731 households with 907 displaced, Migori as 1,280 households and 53 displaced, but Kisii and Nyamira counties aren’t affected by the floods.

‘Yesterday in the morning, because of the rains we had the previous night, the River Nyando burst its banks, killing one person from Winam’, she disclosed.

Mworoa said, ‘Since a huge number has be
en displaced, we would like to make a special appeal to the members of the public in the affected areas to move to higher grounds.’ She assured members of the public that they were making arrangements for the distribution of food and other non-food items to ease their suffering.

The RC explained that the assorted supplies would go a long way in alleviating the problems resulting from the displacement of our people out of their places of abode.

The Regional boss revealed that they are working closely with the Kenya Red Cross to give aid to the affected families.

‘We are working closely with the Western Hub (various NGOs) on providing aid to flood victims. In our fruitful collaborations, after a meeting three weeks ago, they gave us an advisory on the onset of the heavy rains pounding the area from March to May,” she clarified.

The multi-agency consists of the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), the County governments and Non-State Actors.

Mworoa said some of the interventions put in place
are temporary, pointing out that the government has put in place mechanisms to ensure that dykes are built and that the ongoing construction of Koru-Soin Dam will be part of the solution to the perennial flood problems in Nyando and its environs.

She said that most of the affected families are camping in school fields. Some of the schools that they are currently located at are Nanga, Odenyo, and Ebenezer Academy.

Source: Kenya News Agency

ZAGHOUAN: The value of investment intentions in the services sector in Zaghouan upped by 172% in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1).

35 investment intentions worth TND 6 million were reported in the region, compared with 37 investment intentions worth TND 2.2 million during the same period in 2023, according to statistics from the Industry and Innovation Promotion Agency (APII).

However, investment intentions in the industrial sector fell slightly from 22 intentions (TND 121.3 million) reported during the same period last year to 21 intentions (TND 55.1 million) during the first half of 2024, Director of the Documentation and Industrial Information Centre at the APII Nadia Miled told TAP.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Beja: A delegation from the Education Ministry and the European Investment Bank (EIB), Thursday, made an inspection visit to the Pioneer High School of Béja, which represents a sample of pilot projects of the Programme Modernizing Schools (French: PMES).

Co-funded by the Tunisian government, the EIB, the German Development Bank (KfW) and the European Union, at cost of TND 750 million, this programme aims to provide an environment conducive to education for teachers, Head of the Management by Objectives Unit (French: UGO) of the programme, Karim Daoud, told TAP.

Meeting all international standards, the Pioneer High School of Béja, newly built for a budget of TND 9.6 million, is seen considered as an environmentally friendly establishment, the same source said, adding that will be approved before the start of the next school year.

Representative of the EIB in Tunisia, Jean-Luc Revereault told TAP that the Pioneer High School of Béja, is part of the PMES which helped to build 59 educational establishments thr
oughout Tunisia.

The Béja Pioneer High School, which covers an area of 5700 m2, is made up of 13 classrooms and 9 specialty rooms, a digital library, a socio-cultural space, a restaurant, a sports field with a capacity of 620 students.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Strong gusts of wind are expected on Friday with speeds ranging between 50 and 70 km/h, temporarily reaching 92 km/h, especially in coastal areas, heights, and the South, according to the National Institute of Meteorology (INM).

Temperatures will experience a slight decrease, with highs ranging between 12 and 19°C in the North and the West-Central regions, and between 20 and 26°C in the remaining areas.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

MANOUBA: A delegation from the German Development Bank (KfW) recently visited the governorate of Manouba to inspect the progress of the project to modernise irrigated areas and implement the master plan for the Laaroussia canal in El Battan.

The development of the Laaroussia canal has been completed over a length of 14 km, at a cost of around TND 21 million.

Modernisation work in the Laaroussia and Chouigui irrigation areas has reached an 80% progress rate.

Some 360 farmers in the region will benefit from this project, which will cover a total of 1,700 hectares of public irrigated land at a cost of TND 70 million.

The visit, which was attended by the Commissioner for Local Agricultural Development and Commission officials, also focused on the projects outlined in the Tunisian-German cooperation programme, Samir Ayadi, manager of the Laaroussia canal plan, told TAP.

The German side was briefed on several projects still under study, notably the project to modernise the irrigated areas in Borj El Amri, cove
ring an area of 2,700 hectares (costing TND 60 million), and the project to modernise 440 hectares of irrigated perimeters in Tebourba, Tebourba Errimel, Hammed, Guechba and Ben Nfissa in Jedaida (costing TND 120 million).

The project to develop the northern section of the Laaroussia canal (5 km from the Laaroussia dam to Goumeryane) and the southern section (35 km from the Laaroussia dam to Sidi Thabet, in the Ariana governorate) were also discussed.

The cost of this project, which includes the construction of 40 km of pipelines through the urban area of Tebourba, is estimated at TND 100 million.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: A Tunisian-Italian joint high level committee for higher education and scientific research will be set up to develop an action plan for the implementation and follow-up of cooperation activities, according to a memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday at Carthage Palace by Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Moncef Boukthir and his Italian counterpart Anna Maria Bernini.

The committee will identify areas of cooperation of common priority for the two countries, formulate policies and guidelines in the fields of higher education, science, innovation and technology, evaluate past and current cooperation activities and plan future objectives.

The MoU, signed on the occasion of the visit of the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Tunisia, aims to further strengthen cooperation in higher education and scientific research between the Tunisian and Italian Ministries of Higher Education through the creation of joint scientific and research programmes and projects.

The ultimate goal
is to promote cooperation between higher education and research institutions, exchange information and opinions on scientific and technological policies, support and promote academic research, and teach languages, literatures, cultures and history in both countries.

The MoU also provides for the promotion of direct cooperation between higher education and scientific research institutions in both countries, the implementation and execution of joint projects between higher education, research and business institutions in the fields of research, innovation and technology transfer, as well as joint cooperation in relevant multilateral programmes such as PRIMA, Horizon Europe and Erasmus+.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse