• On Wednesday NLC Commissioner Reginald Okumu said that the cost of acquiring land for government projects is extremely high.
• "Land banking is important for us given the limited amount of land for public projects."
The National Land Commission has said that it will set aside land for putting up public projects.
Known as land banks, the parcels held by public or private institutions will be an asset to the commission and will be used for building public property in the future.
On Wednesday NLC Commissioner Reginald Okumu said that the cost of acquiring land for government projects is extremely high.
"Land banking is important for us given the limited amount of land for public projects," he told a stakeholder forum to discuss 2020-2025 NLC draft strategic plan.
The commission says it acquired land worth Sh38.273 billion for 77 public projects between 2013 and 2018.
It received 693 historical land injustices claims, out of which 126 were admitted, investigated and determined.
On the allocation of public land, it says it processed over 6,000 requests from counties for unalienated public land.
Okumu said there is massive infrastructure, yet land is not available.
He said even though land banking is a good concept, there is need for it to be approached with care.
Okumu said previous administrations had a tendency to declare it as idle land, before reallocating it. He said the land might also be grabbed.
Residents raised concerns that the delay in compulsory acquisition of land for projects was costly.
Okumu said the commission will take an inventory of all the public land. He said land should be well secured and available when needed.
Godfrey Kariuki from Kenya Electricity Transmission Company said they have a challenge in paying out landowners after NLC has done evaluation.
"They (landowners) disagree after NLC has done valuation delaying some of the projects," he said.
Johnson Muthoka also from Ketraco raised concerns at the rate at which people were subdividing land into small portions.
NLC chairperson Gershom Otachi said the commission will in the next five years deliver in five key areas.
These are management and administration of public land, use of land and security of land rights, revenue generation from land resources, land dispute resolution and strengthening the institution.
"In this regard, we will focus on development and fast-track implementation of various frameworks to streamline land management and administration to effectively deal with various disputes relating to land use of natural resources," Otachi said.
Otachi said the frameworks, identified as major gaps in land reforms will support the delivery of quality services to Kenyans while promoting better stewardship in land governance.
NLC acting CEO Kabale Tache said she is happy the commission is fully constituted.