A tycoon in Kilifi County is counting his loses after the government ordered the construction of a Ksh2 billion factory halted.
National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) reversed its initial approval that had allowed the Mzuri Sweets Limited construction at Kwa Kadzengo along the Mombasa-Malindi highway after an inspection on Tuesday, October 15.
NEMA had earlier approved the construction of the factory valued at Ksh2 billion which is already 80% complete.
The factory was set to offer employment to 1,000 people and boost Kilifi County economy as it had planned to purchase between 200,000 and 400,000 eggs daily from the local community which was to be used as raw materials in the production process.
The initial approval had allowed the managers of the factory to backfill the wetland next to it and create an artificial one in a different location.
After visiting the site, Nema board chairman John Konchella, however, noted that an assessment had revealed that the company had hived off 30 meters of the riparian land next to it.
"The backfilling of the wetland on land number LR531 had continued despite the developer being issued with an order stopping the activity on April 15, 2020; this is an activity already violating an order issued.
"Environmental inspectors in liaison with Water Resource Authority, Kenya National Highways Authority, county surveyor, and the county government of Kilifi shall undertake pegging of the wetland and the road reserve to inform the extent of encroachment of the building,” he stated.
Nema acting director of compliance and enforcement Zephania Ouma, on the other hand, clarified that the assessment had revealed that some of the conditions issued by the authority had not been met.
“We have confirmed that a number of these conditions have not been met and that is what has led to the situation which you are seeing on the ground,” he stated.
The company's head had explained that an earlier approval had allowed him to create another wetland the same size as the section to be backfilled.
He also noted that the company had created a wetland after receiving the greenlight from Kilifi County Government.
“We created more than two-thirds of artificial wetland. The National Construction Authority (NCA) compliance was undertaken on May 7 then issued a certificate and on May 27, the Kilifi county government gave us the green light to proceed with the project,” he stated.
