Squatters unwilling to buy part of the 909 acres of East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) land they occupy face eviction in two weeks as the firm eyes Sh5 billion from the disputed Athi-River property.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed company EAPCC said in a public notice it had finished enlisting squatters willing to pay for parcels they occupy and will evict the rest who are reluctant to do so.
The latest development comes after the cement-maker mid-October last year made a sale offer to squatters who had for years encroached on the expansive land. The EAPCC asked the inhabitants to express their interest in buying the land.
“Those who, for one reason or the other, elected not to register and participate in the regularisation exercise have 14 days from the date of this notice to remove whatever structures they may have erected on the said properties and vacate the company land or take necessary steps to regularise before the expiry of the notice period,” said Oliver Kirubai, EAPCC managing director, in a notice.
The cash-strapped company had by the end of last June set aside Sh425.87 million to cater for eviction costs as it eyes to sell the land to settle multi-billion shillings debts and also improve its cash position.
The company has stopped the erection of any new structures on the land without its authority in the form of an executed letter of offer or sale agreement.
Mr Kirubai said offer letters for squatters and other inhabitants who have been successfully enlisted as willing to buy are now ready for the said applicants to “collect, review, consider and execute.” They have two weeks to collect the offer letters.
“The regularisation map is now concluded and further processing, approvals, and exemptions are now underway as per relevant laws and regulations,” said Mr Kirubai.
EAPCC is eying Sh5 billion from the sale of land totalling 909 acres, meaning that an acre of land in the region costs Sh5.5 million.
The company will expect the squatters to make the payments within three years of accepting the offer, according to the plan shared last year.
EAPCC said the offer to squatters was to ensure the local community gets the first right of purchase, after which all unclaimed portions of land will be competitively offered to the general public on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis.
The company is also eying another Sh5 billion from the sale of 1,000 acres of land that is adjacent to the land it is seeking to regularise. It has already subdivided the land parcel into 50-acre plots portions for sale.
EAPCC swung to a full-year loss of Sh1.3 billion in the financial year ended June 2023, reversing a previous Sh541.5 million profit posted a year earlier.
