The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) owes Sh4billion to thousands of land owners whose properties were acquired for wayleaves for seven donor-funded projects.
A forensic audit report tabled in Parliament on the long-standing wayleave compensation for the seven projects shows that the outstanding amount stood at Sh4,034,962,691 as at June 2023.
The report indicates that the value in compensation schedules for the seven donor-funded projects under review amounted to Sh17,021,117,748, out of which Sh12,986,155,691 had been paid. It further shows that the outstanding Sh4 billion is for wayleave for land, structures, and crops that had been encumbered, affected, or destroyed, respectively.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu says the audit team reviewed and analysed the compensation claims for each of the seven transmission lines.
On the Ethiopia-Kenya Transmission Line, the report notes that Ketraco had not paid compensation claims worth Sh314,315,441, being the balance of Sh2.62 billion claims.
The audit revealed that in 2015, Ketraco publicised 1,569 parcels of land but failed to publicise four projects comprising 300 parcels of land for the project that was funded by AfD at an estimated Sh4.1.75 billion.
“Ketraco had identified 2,638 parcels of land that affected the project. The total compensation for land, structures, and crops that had been encumbered, affected, or destroyed, respectively,” the report states.
“Out of this amount, Ketraco had paid Sh2.31 billion as at June 30, 2023, leaving an outstanding amount of Sh314.32 million.”
Ms Gathungu said the reasons provided for not compensating Project Affected Persons (PAPs) included absentee landowners, courts or succession disputes, rejected offer letters, government land, payment process in progress, lack of ownership documents, and survey issues.
In the 98-kilometre Kenya-Tanzania Transmission Line, Ketraco had an outstanding wayleave compensation bill of Sh321.8 million after paying Sh1.3 billion out of the total amount of Sh1.64 billion.
“The Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) report dated August 2015 identified 258 parcels of land that would be affected by the project,” Ms Gathungu said.
“The total budget for resettlement and compensation of the affected person’s land and assets was Sh1,334,612,752.”
The audit shows that Ketraco gazetted 501 out of 549 parcels of land, which would be affected by the Kenya-Tanzania Interconnector Project.
On the 400Kv Kenya-Uganda Interconnection Line, Ketraco had a wayleave compensation balance of Sh263.7 million out of a total budget of Sh2.85 billion.
“The audit team established that the values of 22 parcels of land were used as a basis for computing the market value for all the parcels of land along the Kenya-Uganda corridor line,” Ms Gathungu said.
“However, the valuation method used to arrive at the value of the 22 parcels was not provided for audit.”
Ms Gathungu said physical verification of the Kenya-Uganda Transmission Line sampled 132 PAPs with outstanding compensation for land.
The Kenya Power Transmission System Improvement Project has not cleared Sh229.23 million in compensation for PAPs as of June 2023.
“Among the reasons provided for parcels of land that were not fully compensated included: seventy-three (73) landowners from specific lines could not be traced, 17 were pending due to insufficient documentation, 25 parcels faced delays due to family disputes, and 49 parcels were pending due to ongoing succession issues,” Ms Gathungu said.
In the Turkwel-Ortum-Kitale Transmission Line, Ms Gathungu said the outstanding compensation for land, structures, and crops/trees stands at Sh972.6 million.
Of the outstanding payments, Sh237.34 million is for 329 project-affected persons for their structures, and Sh146.8 million to 1,980 project-affected persons for the destruction of crops/trees.
“Out of the 1,651 PAPs affected, the team sampled 12 parcels of land and revealed compensation to the landowners amounting to Sh8,312,669,” the report states.
Ms Gathungu said as of the end of June 2023, the total value in the compensation schedules for the Nairobi Ring Project amounted to Sh2.2 billion, out of which Sh2 billion had been paid, resulting in an outstanding wayleave compensation for the project amounting to Sh149.4 million.
The auditor said the Resettlement Policy Framework required the acquisition of land for the construction of three substations in Isinya, Kimuka, and Suswa.
“Comparative prices for land within the substations at Kimuka (27.32 acres) and Suswa (200 acres) were not provided; therefore, the audit team was not able to ascertain whether the negotiated price for Kimuka (Sh54.64 million) and Isinya (Sh130 million) was based on open market values,” the report states.
“Ownership documents, such as title deeds for Kimuka and Isinya substations, were not provided for audit review.”
The audit faulted Ketraco for failing to provide a survey report for the Nairobi Ring Project to ascertain whether the 16 plots falling within the wayleave were to be compensated.
“The audit team established that the total approved valuations for land amounted to Sh2 billion for 51 valuations for 707 PAPs, and these valuations were based on sampled 16 parcels of land,” the report notes.
“However, valuation reports for 16 parcels were not provided for audit. It was therefore not possible to ascertain how the 16 sampled parcels were used in the valuation of the 707 PAPs.”
