The Lamu government has resolved a land dispute and cleared the way for two wind firms.
National Land Commission chairman Muhammad Swazuri said the county has now divided the disputed 12,000 acres to satisfy all parties.
“The latest on the issue is that the county government has agreed to give part development plans to two companies for wind power generation. The 12,000 acres will be divided into three. They have put a gazette notice to that effect,” he said.
“Kenwind Ltd has been allocated 3,206 acres, Cordisons International Ltd 4,000 acres, while the rest will be set aside for settlement. The matter had been settled by last week when I was there.” Kenwind director Susan Nandwa said the firm has adhered to NLC’s decision and will acquire the lease and move families occupying the land. “We have followed due process to lease this land and we do not anticipate any obstacles from anywhere,” she said.
Kenwind favoured
The county had accused Swazuri of re-allocating 12,000 acres to a wind power generating company, which had not been vetted. He was also accused of favouring newcomer Kenwind over Cordisons International, which in 2010 sought to be allocated land at the Coast.
Cordisons received approvals from all government agencies and Lamu county. For two years, the NLC has ignored repeated requests from the county and Cordisons to confirm the land allocation for its Part Development Plan.
In a letter to the Lands ministry on July 19, the NLC said Kenwind should get the PDP. The company was to put up its turbines on private land next to the public land identified by Cordisons for its 350MW wind power project.
No powers to grant authority
However, Kenwind ran int o problems with the tenants of the land. On August 19, the Lamu government wrote to Swazuri, saying he has no powers to grant authority for land owned by the county and declared the purported allocation to Kenwind null and void.
The county noted with concern another letter dated July 27 from director of physical planning that notified Lamu of the preparation of a PDP for Kenwind. This was to supersede the Cordison plan prepared by the county government and advertised on July 23.
Lamu insisted the planning mandate rests with the county and the PDP it prepared prevails. “Contrary to your assertion that you are neutral in this matter, it is clear you have taken it upon yourself to allocate the land in question to Kenwind Ltd. This inspite of clear instructions from the county government of Lamu vide letter Ref LCG/PA/VOL.III/97 dated April 18, advising you on revocation of the earlier decision. Instead of acknowledging the problem referred therein and addressing the matter with the county regarding the inability to prepare the PDP for Kenwind Ltd, you disregarded the decision without further consultation and instead rushed to the director of physical planning to prepare the PDP for Kenwind Ltd contrary to the law,” Lamu county secretary Siyat Osman said.
He said Lamu wrote on December 5, 2014 to inform NLC of its intention to lease land to Cordisons and requested the commission for authority to prepare a PDP, definitive survey of the land for deed plan purposes and a lease. Two years later, NLC ignored the request in favour of Kenwind for reasons not made public.
The Lamu government has now demanded that the NLC instructs the director of physical planning to revoke the PDP advertised in favour of Kenwind.
On May 20, the county sent the NLC all Cordison’ approvals, including a letter from the Energy PS Patrick Nyoike dated November 25 and addressed to Cordisons CEO Crispin Kodi.
“This is to inform you that your expression of interest has been approved for development under the Feed-in-Tariffs Policy for two of the sites – namely Labwe Valley and Offshore Lamu. The other sites you have proposed have been allocated to other developers. In the event that you establish higher potential in these two sites than covered under the FIT policy, then your development will be considered outside the policy and tariffs will be negotiated commercially,” the letter said.
On September 2, 2013, Osman approved Cordison’s land lease for Moa and Kiongwe sites.