Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) has suffered a blow after a court blocked it from developing a parcel of land valued over Ksh4 billion.
A report by the Standard indicated that the corporation had repossessed the parcel in 2020 after evicting individuals it claims had encroached on the parcel.
Business people that were operating on the land claimed that they had been given the parcel legally but the corporation claimed it and demolished their buildings in October.
In his ruling, Justice John Mutungi directed that Kenya Railways should not carry out any activities until the case is heard and determined.
"In the meantime, demolition has taken place, I hereby bar both the plaintiff (Wamuhu) from rebuilding and the defendant (KRC) from doing reconstruction on the land until the suit is heard and determined," stated Mutungi.
Among the properties that were demolished were petrol stations, nightclubs, shops and malls.
The suit was filed by businessman Monica Wamuhu who is seeking Ksh132 million compensation after her business was demolished.
"The plaintiff is the registered owner of the property after she inherited it from her husband Peter Macharia who died on October 31, 1998,” Wamuhu argued in her suit.
During the demolitions in October 2020, Police officers were deployed along Geoffrey Kamau Way in Nakuru.
The demolitions come ahead of a planned rehabilitation of the Nairobi-Nakuru-Kisumu railway line by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
The exercise was meant to pave way for the construction of Ksh160 billion Limuru-Nakuru road into a four lane dual-carriageway.
Kenya Railways explained at the time that the tenants had been issued sufficient 90-day notices to move their businesses from the land.
"The land is now needed for the purposes of rehabilitation of the railway and we have begun reclaiming it," Estate Manager Patrick Nzomo stated.
The rehabilitation of the old railway line comes after 25 years of neglect, and is expected to cost Ksh3.7 billion.
