Tenants vacate Taj Mall shopping complex as NLC revokes title deed over Outering road construction

NAIROBI, KENYA: Several tenants at the Taj Mall shopping complex in Embakasi have relocated after the National Land Commission revoked its title deed to pave way for the construction of Outer Ring Road.

The tenants include banks, supermarkets, eateries and other joints. The commission issued the Outer Ring Road contractors under Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) with a notice revoking Taj Mall's title deed.

Also set for demolition are several structures and petrol stations on the road.

The commission gave the go-head in a letter dated September 30 to the Chief Land Registrar at the Ministry of Lands.

This will see the project which has fallen behind schedule with the contractors seeking more funds of up to Sh8 billion to start soon.

It is almost ten months since the construction was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

"That because the property was compulsorily acquired for road expansion the same public utility land and the title should be revoked," said the letter.

And after the news of the cancellation of the title, many tenants started to vacate the complex. A section of locals staged a protest to the commission offices claiming the move was wrong.

The mall owner Rameshchandra Govind Garissa said he spent more than Sh500 million in acquiring the land and constructing the mall.

He has since written a protest letter to various government agencies.

NLC vice chair Abigael Mbagaya Mukolwe said Kura launched a complaint saying the government had bought part of the parcel on which Taj Mall stands in 1960.

According to the NLC documents, the road corridor from North Airport Road to Ngong River was then surveyed and executed in 1966.

The physical planning department then re-planned a 60 metre-wide Outer Ring Road in 1988, expanding the corridor along Fedha Estate by seven metres.

"In the case of Taj Mall, the owner had bought the land from someone although it had already been bought by the government and the owner compensated," Mukolwe said.

Part of the property apparently sits on the room left for future expansion of the North Airport Road and the Outer Ring Road.