The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has waded in the controversial allocation of land belonging to the Kenya Railways Corporation and stopped development on the land being held by private developers in Nairobi’s Industrial Area.

The corporation has embarked on a land allocation spree in the Industrial Area prompting an uproar from some corporates which accuse the developers of blocking the drainage system and water lines.

Last week, BAT, East Africa Breweries Limited and the Automobile Battery Manufacturer (ABM), British American Tobacco and Print Pak, protested that a private developer allocated land by the corporation had fully blocked the drainage system and the exit doors which posed a risk to the workers. “An improvement notice was issued requiring the proponent to submit to Nema all the relevant approval documents on Monday July 22, 2024,” Nema Director General Mamo Mamo said in a statement.

The developer was yesterday fined Sh250,000 for operating without the requisite licenses.

Commitment letter

The authority asked the developer to submit a commitment letter showing the intention to comply with the improvement notice issued.

Officials from the National Construction Authority also visited the sites and ordered the developer to stop any construction.

Management of the affected industries said Kenya Railways has allocated the parcel to a developer who has covered the sewer lines. “We are perturbed by the happenings. They have already backfilled the area and we are worried that in case of a downpour, our drainage will be affected,” ABM engineering manager Wilson Olando said.

Denied allocating

Kenya Railways MD Phillip Mainga has since denied allocating the parcel to a developer, saying the claims are misleading and ill-informed.

“No. We have not given anyone that land. That is our land. If the neighbours are raising issues about drainage, that is the role of other government agencies,” he said.

Yesterday, Mamo said when Nema team visited the site, they observed the Kenya Railways line passes through the land.

There were heaps of backfilling materials at the site. An excavator was compressing the backfilling materials and construction work was ongoing.

The aggrieved neighbours had lamented that despite expressing their reservations to Kenya Railways, no response has been given and the developer has continued to build structures.

“The development is illegal. The developer has gone ahead even without the environmental assessment report. Everything is continuing normally despite us raising serious concerns,” Olando said.

 Mainga maintained that his office has not received any complaint from the management of the neighbouring industries.

“This issue has been all over but I keep saying, the land is ours. We have not given it to anyone,” he said.

The developer, Mimodi enterprises have refused to comment on the matter only insisting that the acquired the land legally.

This is not the first time Kenya Railways has been on the spot over alleged irregular allocation of land.

Last year, it emerged it had allocated 544 parcels of public land to individuals.

A report of the audited accounts of KRC for 2018-19 found the Commissioner of Lands and the defunct local authorities allocated the land to third parties without the consent of the corporation.