Squatters cry foul over Standard Gauge Railway project compensation

VOI: No mega Government project has ever exposed the the squatter problem in the Coast region like the construction of the multi-billion shilling standard gauge railway (SGR) project.

Coast counties of Mombasa, Kilifi, Kwale and Taita Taveta are among those affected by the ambitious project and landowners whose properties have been affected are being compensated to pave way for the Sh327 billion project.

Though some have lamented that the compensation money given is not commensurate with the value of land and property affected, the main issue has been land ownership.

A glaring case is the Mswambeni area of Voi where squatters have been living on 140 acres that was earmarked for a factory by a shoe company in 1979.

The shoe factory, which was meant to employ over 40,000 people, came a cropper and locals encroached on the land and set up structures - makeshift, semi-permanent and permanent - on it. With the SGR project now crossing through the disputed land, the property owners have realised that they are not getting any compensation for the land since they have no valid documents to prove ownership.

“I set up my six room, semi-permanent house at a cost of more than Sh1.2 million and now I am being compensated Sh1 million, which is too little. At the same time, I have not found an alternative plot to put up another house,” says Janet Kori, a resident of Mswambeni village in Voi .

Another resident of Mazeras township who sought anonymity also lamented that the squatters in the area got a raw deal in terms of compensation, saying that the Government had not done a thorough valuation of the property affected by the project.

“I have been awarded Sh600,000 for my structure, but I am not sure how this figure was arrived at,” the distraught resident told Home & Away.

Even though he would not reveal how much money he had been compensated for his five plots in Voi on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway which have title deeds, Voi businessman Ashok Anand was categorical that the only proof of ownership one could give to get rightful compensation for any land was a title deed.

 No title deeds

“Lack of a title deed is a major hurdle for most of those covered by the SGR project as most of them will claim the land is their ancestral property,” says Anand.

“I am not sure the Government has involved qualified property valuers to establish exactly how much each affected person should be compensated. What I know is that most of those people without title deeds might have gotten a raw deal,” says Dr Constantine Mwadime, the director of Costa Homes Ltd, a land and real estate firm.

Mwadime said there was huge potential in land and real estate in Taita-Taveta county, which remained largely untapped because locals were not subdividing and developing land due to lack of title deeds.

“When land owners subdivide and develop land, they generate revenue for the county, unlike when vast chunks of land lie idle for years,” said Dr Mwadime.

Mwadime’s sentiments are echoed by another land and real estate agent in Voi, Danson Mabruk, who said the Government should fast-track the issuance of title deeds for the Coastal people.

“Most of those who have been awarded the largest amounts by the Government for the SGR project are those who have title deeds since they have been compensated both for the land and property such as buildings, unlike squatters who have only been compensated for their structures,” says Mabruk.

Addressing leaders and senior Kenya Railways officials in Wundanyi town when they paid a courtesy call on Deputy Governor Mary Ndigha, who is also the county land executive, the project manager for the standard gauge project Solomon Ouna said Taita Taveta County could benefit immensely from the project in terms of industrial development and job creation.

Ouna said this would only be possible if the county came up with well-designed economic development plans. “The standard gauge railway project is covering about 200 kilometres in Taita Taveta County, making it the only county in the country covering the longest stretch of the project and local leaders should work out modalities of coming up with modern towns along the railway line to boost investment,” he said.

 Master plan

He challenged the county leadership to come up with a master plan for serious land use along the railway line for industrial parks and shopping malls instead of the current informal settlements.

“I am made to understand that there are plans to set up an industrial park in Maungu area, which will benefit from the standard gauge railway project. The availability of huge deposits of ore and industrial minerals in Taita Taveta, as well huge deposits of coal in Taru area are potential indicators of economic takeoff along the railway line,” he said.

Speaking during the meeting, the Chairman of Kenya Railways Board of Directors Retired General Jeremiah Kianga warned that construction standards of the railway line should not be compromised and said only qualified and experienced personnel would be engaged in the work.

Gen Kianga called for sobriety in handling the thorny issue of the land where the project would cross, saying there will be total goodwill from Kenya Railways and the National Land Commission to avoid disgruntlement among land owners in the affected areas.