Taxpayers risk losing Sh108 million after a contractor hired to redevelop Fort Jesus, a Unesco world heritage site, took off without completing the project.
The contractor has not been on the ground since December 2021 and the contract period has lapsed despite two extensions.
An audit report tabled in Parliament shows that the contractor was not on site as of February this year despite having been paid Sh108,365,552.
The contractor left the site barely five months after former President Uhuru Kenyatta inspected the construction of the 270-metre-long wall to protect the cliff holding Fort Jesus World Heritage Site from sea erosion.
Mr Kenyattta toured the project in July 2021, where the government intended to redevelop the Fort Jesus seafront into a modern recreational park complete with a football pitch and amphitheatre on land that was reclaimed from the Indian Ocean.
Fort Jesus was declared a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and highlighted as one of the most outstanding and well-preserved examples of 16th Century Portuguese military fortifications.
The wall was meant to protect the 500-year-old fort from falling into the ocean after the first wall was washed away by the sea.
The project was conceived following the threat of waves eating into the base of the monument built on a coral rock without a foundation.
The National Museums of Kenya awarded a contract to a local company to reconstruct the site at Sh226,022,710.
The project started on September 3, 2020, with a completion date of March 3, 2021, which was revised twice to June 3, 2021, and September 15, 2021. The Auditor-General says both contract extension periods had already elapsed.
