NAIROBI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) said Wednesday it has approved two loans worth 27.5 billion shillings (about 268 million U.S. dollars) for the completion of construction work on Thwake dam on Thwake River in southern Kenya.

The African bank said in a statement that the package was requested by Kenyan authorities.

"This additional support follows a 76 million euros loan granted by the Bank in 2013 to start building the dam as part of the Thwake Multi-Purpose Development Program (TMWDP) which aims to provide drinking water, hydroelectric energy and irrigation," AfDB said.

Thwake dam, a strategic water supply project for the large semi-arid area of Makueni County and surrounding regions, comprises a multi-purpose dam for water supply, hydropower generation and irrigation development.

It will also provide regulation of flows on Athi River downstream of the dam for flood and drought mitigation.

AfDB said the completion of the 80.5m high multi-purpose dam will enable the storage of 681 million cubic meters of water, of which 625 million cubic meters will be used for electricity production and downstream irrigation of agricultural land; 22 million cubic meters for upstream irrigation and 34 million for human use.

Construction in the initial phase of the TMWDP project should be completed in December 2022, the lender said.