Land rows delay 400MW Meru wind power plant

What you need to know:

The project will sit on an 18,700–acre piece of land in Tigania East Sub-County.
The area has been in a conflict of interest from many stakeholders since the power company identified it for the mega project.
The governor said he will only allow the process to go on once an all-inclusive land committee is constituted.

The construction of KenGen’s #ticker:KEGN 400-megawatt wind power plant in Meru County has been delayed by land rows.

The first phase of the Meru Wind Farm Project that is expcted to cost Sh6.9 billion was scheduled to be completed in December 2017.

The project will sit on 18,700 acres in Tigania East Sub County.

According to KenGen’s managing director Albert Mugo, the construction has been delayed due to land disputes. “We await land adjudication so that we can deal with the bona-fide land owners,” Mr Mugo in a text message.

Apart from contributing to economic development, the project will also help in mitigating climate change by avoiding the generation of carbon emissions at reasonable economic costs.

Sh6m for demarcation

To speed up the demarcation of the disputed land, a budget of Sh6 million was approved by the national government.

The process was expected to be completed within two months to allow the firm to build the plant this year. However, this has faced a big blow after Meru Governor Peter Munya put an injunction to stop the process.

“Those purporting to be committee members have not been gazetted. Whatever they are doing on the land is illegal. If we allow them to continue with the illegal process, the poor will be deprived of their land,” he said.

The governor said he will only allow the process to go on once an all-inclusive land committee is constituted.

Mr Munya said the bona-fide land owners should be given a two-week notice before meeting to choose a committee that will oversee the subdivision of land.

Conflict of interest

The area has has attracted a lot of attention from stakeholders since KenGen identified the piece of land for the mega project.

Located a few metres from the Isiolo International Airport, it is also seen as an avenue for the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (Lappset) corridor project.

According to the district lands and adjudication settlements officer Kephers Obingo, the demarcation will be done before the KenGen wind power station is set up.

“We need co-operation from all those involved to ensure the exercise runs smoothly. Genuine land owners will get documents immediately after the demarcation,” Mr Obingo.

The wind mill project will occupy sections of Ngaremara and Gambela locations.