Landowners in five counties to be paid Sh5bn for new railway
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho (left) with Kenya Railways Corporation chairman Gen (rtd) Jeremiah Kianga (right) during a meeting with county leaders to discuss the proposed standard gauge railway on October 28, 2014. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT |
What you need to know:
- The payments, which will benefit landowners in Mombasa, Kwale and Taita-Taveta, will be made starting from next week.
- Landowners from Makueni and Kajiado counties will also be paid.
Landowners from three Coast counties are among 2,000 Kenyans who will be paid Sh5.5 billion as compensation ahead of the laying of the standard gauge railway from the Coast to Nairobi.
The payments, which will benefit landowners in Mombasa, Kwale and Taita-Taveta, will be made starting from next week.
Landowners from Makueni and Kajiado counties will also be paid.
In the first meeting with Mombasa leaders, who included Governor Ali Hassan Joho, at the Mombasa Club on Tuesday, the Kenya Railways Corporation managing director, Mr Atanas Maina, said the National Land Commission had already given the parastatal the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
“The funds have already been released,” he said. “We shall start depositing the money next week.”
HELD DEMONSTRATIONS
Recently, Kwale and Taita-Taveta residents held demonstrations to protest at the delay of compensation.
“I assure you 98 per cent of those who had complained will receive their money,” Mr Maina told Mombasa leaders. “Those who had issues have signed and returned the necessary forms ahead of the payments.”
Earlier, Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi, the Mombasa county executive for Transport, Mr Mohamed Abbas, and his Lands and Housing counterpart, Mr Francis Thoya, accused the parastatal of failing to provide an environmental impact assessment report on the railway.
They also said it had neither shared information on how the railway project will create jobs nor involved local leaders in its plans.
However, Mr Maina said a team that will bring together governors from the counties where the railway will pass, officials from the National Land Commission, Kenya Railways representatives among other will be set up to look into such issues.
“Although the railway line will cover only about eight kilometres of the county, Mombasa remains a major stakeholder since it will host one of the two main stations at Changamwe,” Mr Maina said. The other major station will be in Nairobi.
“We shall use about 150 acres of land to build locomotive, wagon and marshalling yards and workshops. We will also use a small portion of the sea to put up other structures necessary for the project.”
