Mombasa County government to auction property over Sh14bn land rates arrears
A view of the Coastal town of Mombasa. Mombasa County government says it will, beginning November, auction property belonging to land rates defaulters in a bid to recover Sh14 billion arrears. FILE PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The county government will auction properties of the defaulters in order to recover the money.
- He claimed that KBC owes the county government Sh900 million while Telkom Kenya owes Sh490 million.
- Others are Kenya Ferry Services (Sh234 million), Department of Defence (Sh100 million) and NSSF (Sh112 million).
- Of the 177,000 rate payers in the county, he said, only the 44,000 had defaulted.
Property belonging to 40,000 land rates defaulters who owe the Mombasa County government Sh14 billion will be auctioned beginning November.
In February, the County published a list of rate defaulters in the local dailies notifying them about their land rates arrears, accumulated penalties and annual rates.
Lands executive Anthony Njaramba has now said that the county government will auction properties of the defaulters in order to recover the money.
He said that there was no excuse since the county had, between February and March 2016, notified the defaulters about their outstanding rates but they failed to clear the debts.
“We gave the 40,000 rates defaulters a grace period of six months to clear their debts but they didn’t take advantage of the opportunity,” he said.
“The county has now resolved to start the process of auctioning their land to recover the bills which have been accumulating since the devolution system of government began in 2013,” he added.
Of the 177,000 rate payers in the county, he said, only the 44,000 had defaulted.
GOVT MINISTRIES
Mr Njaramba said the rate defaulters include national government ministries and parastatals, private companies, individuals and churches.
The ministries and parastatals alone, he added, owe the county more than Sh6 billion in unpaid land rates dating back to the times of the defunct Mombasa Municipal Council.
He claimed that the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) owes the county government Sh900 million, Telkom Kenya Sh490 million, Kenya Railways Corporation more than Sh300 million and the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation Sh249 million.
Others are Kenya Ferry Services (Sh234 million), the Department of Defence (Sh100 million) and the National Social Security Fund (Sh112 million).
“The County is facing financial constraints due to non-payment of rates by landowners. Land rates are our major source of revenue,” Mr Njaramba said.
“We will be forced to auction the national government property if the concerned ministries, departments and parastatals fail to clear their debts,” he added.
