The National Assembly Committee on Environment has opposed a bid by the Kisii County government to hive-off a forest and put up a multi-billion sugar plant.
Maara MP Kareke Mbiuki who is also the committee chairperson, Thursday warned that excising 120 acres of Nyangweta forest to pave way for the construction of the Sh5 billion sugar complex, will drastically affect the environment.
Mr Mbiuki who spoke a day after Environment Cabinet Secretary expressed similar concerns, said as a committee they are against the proposal of setting up the project, which comes at a time when the country is struggling to increase its dwindling forest cover.
On Wednesday, Tobiko and Kisii Governor James Ongwae while appearing before the Senate Environment Committee, differed on the bid to establish the factory in the forest, with the CS cautioning that rivers around the area are likely to dry up.
Ongwae on his part, however, defended the project, explaining that his administration has an elaborate plan that adheres to environmental conservation. He noted that an adequate budget had been set aside for re-afforestation in the affected areas.
“As a committee, we fully stand with the CS on this matter. Let the Kisii county government look elsewhere for land and not plunder the key forest in the region,” Mbiuki told The Standard.
“And it is not only the Kisii project we are against. My House team will oppose any proposed projects that are in Forests such as dams. We will not allow any new projects to be established after felling of trees,” he emphasised.
According to The Forest Act 2016, it is parliament- both National Assembly and Senate- that have the final say on whether the boundary of the forest should be varied or not, with the CS only giving recommendations.
The act provides that Members of The National Assembly or the Senate should vote to support or reject a recommendation seeking the excision of a public forest. If the majority of the legislators support the resolution, then the CS publishes a gazette notice.
Mbiuki, Thursday urged his counterparts in the Senate Environment committee not to cede ground in the Kisii matter, warning that history will judge them harshly.
According to Governor Ongwae, the sugar plant which will have a capacity to crush 5,000 tonnes of cane per day and produce 10 megawatts of electricity and ethanol, will go a long way in changing the economic prospects of the locals.
The county chief told the Senators in an earlier session that an Indian investor, Kanoria Group will pump Sh5billion in the project, and they have already identified 13 parcels of land in different parts of the county totalling up to 461 hectares which they intend to trade in with the Nyangweta Forest.
