Multi-billion shilling landmark buildings on either side of a major city road could be demolished in a new expansion plan.
The properties to be affected on the busy Mombasa Road include sections of Sameer Industrial Park, Standard Group Centre, Simba Colt Motors Ltd, Excel Chemicals Ltd, Kenya Shell Limited, Real Industrial Park Ltd, Alfa Motors Ltd, and Twiga Stationers and Printers Ltd.
Also in the list are Asshowton Holdings Ltd, Caribon Ltd, Three Bees Park, Laboratories and Allied Equipment, and Bodo Holdings amongst others.
They are part of 50 individual and limited companies, which are set to lose their land as the Ministry of Roads prepares to further expand the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport-Museum-Gigiri road.
On Tuesday, the Institute of Surveyors of Kenya could not immediately put a value on the buildings that will eventually be pulled down, but said that due to the fact that some of them took millions to construct, they could be collectively worth billions of shillings.
“It is very difficult to put a value on the said property,” said Mr Mwenda Makathimo, the chairman of the surveyors’ institute, who is also a valuation and property management expert.
Late last year, the government signalled its intention of acquiring the land under which the buildings have been constructed with the publication of a gazette notice by the Commissioner of Lands dated December 31.
The government can under the Land Acquisition Act compel an individual or a company to vacate land, but the landowner has to be compensated first.
In the notice, Mr Zablon Mabeya, the Lands Commissioner, asked the landowners to inspect the project plans at his ministry in a bid to prepare their compensation claims. Hearings on the same are scheduled to start in March.
A section of the landowners have already petitioned Roads minister Franklin Bett for details of the road project and the rates at which they will be compensated.
But some argue that the parcels they will be left with would be of little economic value, adding that the chief government valuer could short-change them on the value of their parcels.
They also reckon that with the delay in the start of the project due to a row between the World Bank and one of the contractors, they should be allowed to use the land much longer.
However, Roads minister Franklin Bett said that the row would be resolved by the end of this month. There are suggestions that the controversial contract could be awarded to a Chinese company.
A Roads ministry spokesperson said the land acquisition would be handled according to the laid down procedures and asked those affected not to panic.
Source: Daily Nation
The expansion of the road will be for the greater good of the population but the Government should ensure that this will not hurt other people investments and should follow up on who authorised the buildings in the first place if there was a master plan to be followed.