PCEA fights auction of Sh1.4bn land
What you need to know:
- The Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) is planning court action against a bank and auctioneering firm for issuing a notice on the sale of the prime land.
- The prime property, identified as Ebenezer Ridges, will be sold when the auctioneer’s hammer falls on December 10.
- The church has been selling a quarter acre of land for Sh1.8 million while a half acre has been going for Sh3.5 million.
- Full acre plots have been selling for Sh6.9 million, according to a sale notice that appeared in the Daily Nation on October 11, 2012.
An investment firm associated with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) is fighting the planned auctioning of 202 acres of land in Ruiru worth Sh1.4 billion.
The prime property, identified as Ebenezer Ridges, is up for sale when the auctioneer’s hammer falls on December 10.
The church’s Ruiru parish said it is planning court action against a bank and an auctioneering firm for issuing a notice on the sale of the prime land.
The sale is said to have been prompted by failure to service a multimillion-shilling loan taken by the PCEA Ruiru Parish Development Foundation from a local lender that is majority owned by the government.
“All interested bidders will be required to first make a refundable deposit of Sh2 million to be allowed to bid and obtain a bidding number,” said a notice from Spotlight Intercepts Auctioneers appearing in newspapers on Tuesday, prompting a protest from the organisation.
LUCRATIVE BUSINESS
“We have a court order stopping the auction. We will sue to stop it and sue for contempt,” said an executive at the firm who declined to give his name, adding that the investment is embroiled in a row with a bank.
The PCEA investment firm has been selling a quarter acre of land for Sh1.8 million while a half acre has been going for Sh3.5 million. Full acre plots have been selling for Sh6.9 million, according to a sale notice that appeared in the Daily Nation on October 11, 2012.
The investment firm is said to have borrowed money from a local bank to acquire more than 1,000 acres of coffee farms and it was to subdivide the land and sell it to investors, reflecting the increased interest by the church to seek a piece of Kenya’s property boom.
Property market analysts say the rising rent and home prices in Nairobi and other urban centres will continue to hold, further underlining real estate as an asset class of premium returns relative to equities, bonds and bank deposits.
This is what is attracting faith-based institutions like the Catholic Church, Jesus Is Alive Ministries (JIAM), Christ Is the Answer Ministries (CITAM) and PCEA into the property market.
With many land deals in Kenya turning controversial, PCEA has not been able to stay above the fray.
The Ruiru PCEA Investment Company was taken to court over fraudulent claims made against a director in connection with land sale.
The church was also entangled in a court case in which a land estate agent has sued former Kiambaa MP Stanley Githunguri for Sh79 million in agency commission from the sale of a vast coffee estate to PCEA Kambui Presbytery for Sh1.2 billion.
Propensity Properties Consultants say it was approached by the politician as the chairman of Tassia Coffee Estate to secure a buyer for two parcels of land — Taurus and Tassia.
The agent says he struck a deal with PCEA Kambui Church, which agreed to buy the 790 acres for Sh1.3 million per acre, upon which he was to receive Sh100,000 as agency commission per acre. The tycoon denied knowledge of the agency deal.
The article first appeared in The Business Daily.
