About 60 landlords with properties in the Ruaka-Ndenderu section are in dispute with the Kenya National Highways Authority threatening to derail construction of the Gitaru-Ruaka highway.
The landlords have moved to court to stop the project and have sued Kenha claiming the authority wants to demolish their multi-million-shilling properties without proper procedure. One landlord claimed Kehna has brought up a new map, which condemns properties initially cleared to be out of the road reserves.
“The reason why there is a dispute is that the maps are not tallying. The maps we have are from the Survey of Kenya and according to them, we are far away from the road. Kenha now comes up with another map saying, their properties have encroached the road. All we want to be told is where Kenha is drawing the authority that says the road has changed from the initial 55 metres on each side to over 60 metres,” he said.
Gitaru-Ruaka highway
On their part Kenha claimed the government had bought the pieces of land in the 1969 and 1970 and gazetted them. In July the authority sought a resolution of the impasse so the works could continue. Kenha director-general Peter Mundinia wrote to the Kiambu land registrar requesting that the matter be resolved to avoid delays to construction works.
“We had sought the intervention from the land registrar office as mandated in law to help in resolving these boundary disputes. This also includes amending the land records to reflect the land acquisitions done in the past. We are thus requesting the office to urgently address this issue to avoid adversely affecting the construction works programme and also to address the queries of the affected landowners,” said Mr. Mundinia.
“This issue is already adversely affecting the progress of the project and therefore needs to be resolved conclusively. As this is an issue of encroachment into an existing road reserve, the issue of compensation does not arise,” he added.
The bypass connects Kikuyu to Ruaka, both in Kiambu County, which then connects to the Northern Bypass. The 17.7 km road was designed in 2019 and is due to be completed in 2022. It runs from Gitaru to Ruaka through Wangige, Kalara, Ndenderu and Rumigi. The road will have a service road and walkways measuring two metres on both sides. It has six interchanges and overpasses in each of the six townships where the four-lane dual carriageway is planned to pass.
