By MUGAMBI MUTEGI
In Summary
NSE-listed cement maker EAPCC is among companies and
individuals set to surrender their land to pave the way for construction
of the standard gauge railway (SGR).
A notice published on Friday shows East African Portland
Cement Company (EAPCC) stands to lose about 131 acres of its land to the
government to make way for the 609-kilometre railway line that will
connect Mombasa and Nairobi.
The Friday notice listed hundreds of private land
owners that will be paid to give up their land for the Sh319 billion
project, which is expected to kick off in October.
“The National Land Commission (NLC) gives notice
that the government intends to acquire the following parcels of land for
Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) for the construction of
Mombasa-Nairobi SGR in Taita-Taveta, Makueni, Kajiado and Machakos
counties,” the notice states in part.
The Treasury has budgeted Sh9 billion for the
compulsory acquisition of 11,000 acres of land to give way for the new
railway that will extend to Uganda and Rwanda. Other institutions that
will also lose their land include Mwavumbo Group Ranch (242 acres),
Agricultural Settlement Trust (132.6 acres), Ilmamen Group Ranch (141.8
acres).
An acre of land in the EAPCC area is retailing for
as much as Sh4 million, meaning that the cement maker could soon get as
much as Sh500 million from the government. The construction of the new
standard gauge railway, which will supplement the current slower, narrow
gauge network that is operated by Rift Valley Railways, will run for 42
months.
The government expects that 60 per cent of the land
will be acquired by August and the remainder in December, placing
billions of shillings in the hands of private investors. The KRC
managing director Atanas Maina recently stated that the company had done
mapping and surveying of the land to be compulsorily acquired by the
State.
“We are now identifying the private land owners as
well as holding discussions with the Kenya Wildlife Service over 130km
of wildlife conservation land,” he said.
Last week, the SGR project manager at KRC, Solomon
Ouna, was quoted in the press as saying the land acquisition has “not
been very friendly” but they would still conclude it. Business Daily’s attempts to get a comment from Portland Cement did not bear fruit.
The decision to award the contract to the China
Road and Bridge Corporation was criticised by a section of MPs who
maintained that the tenders were not floated competitively.
Both the Parliament’s transport and public investment committees later cleared the project.
Both the Parliament’s transport and public investment committees later cleared the project.
No comments :
Post a Comment