Depar Limited, a petroleum products company has received a nod from the court to proceed with its proposed liquified petroleum gas (LPG) plant project in Aguthi/Gatitu village Nyeri County.
Justice Yuvinalis Angima declared that the enforcement notice dated May 21, 2020 issued by the county government to the investor, Depar Limited, was a violation of the company’s right to fair administrative action.
The notice required the company to stop construction works of the plant on account of a “public petition” whose details or particulars of complaint were not given. Justice Angima ruled that the devolved unit did not render any justification for the issuance of an enforcement notice stopping the project which was duly approved.
The company’s chief executive officer, Engineer Linus Gitonga, contended that his company had obtained all the relevant approvals and licences from all the concerned authorities including the county government before commencement of the construction works.
Approvals and licences
Gitonga noted that the company had obtained approvals and licences from the Kenya National Highways Authority, the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) and the County Government of Nyeri.
In the ruling, the judge stated that the county government did not file its response to the petition but two days to the judgment date it filed a preliminary objection seeking to have the petition struck out on grounds that the court had no powers to deal with the dispute.
The county objected and argued that a challenge to the issuance of an enforcement notice is a matter which is reserved for the County Physical and Land Use Planning Liaison Committee, under Section 78 of the Physical and Land Use Planning Act, 2019.
It said the petitioner ought to have ventilated its grievances before the said committee and not a court of law. However, the court noted that by the time the investor filled the case the county government had not established the said committee and the objection was filed when the case was pending judgment.
