Just before we call it a fresh round of tears and pain for developers who have built on airport land with property worth billions set for demolition, the National Land Commission (NLC) is baffled how 87.9 hectares (217 acres) of land belonging to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) was excised and allocated to firms and individuals .
An estimated 50 warehouses will be pulled down months after the direct flights from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to New York commenced.
The commission is now preparing to revoke 119 titles that were illegally acquired as JKIA was regularising its ownership of the land where the airport sits, as well as after the region’s premier aviation hub acquired its title in 1996.
“There are two kinds of people we are dealing with: some inside the airport who got the titles just before JKIA got theirs, and others who were creating titles on top of the JKIA title,” NLC vice chairperson Abigael Mbagaya said.
Safety concerns are said to have informed the latest planned demolitions, specifically for travellers to and from the United States – a country that is highly sensitive to terror threats.
Should the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority decide to restore the land ,it would be remnder of the round of demolitions in Syokimau in 2011 where devastated owners cried their hearts out as they helplessly watched bulldozers rip apart their newly built homes.
The Kenya airports authority is however dedicate to restoring the 217 ares off land and nothing will stop in their way as the embattled parastatal s facing stiff competition in Africa and as it seeks new markets , security has been hinted as the major concern.
Of the 87.9 hectares under review, 77.3 hectares were excised after 1996 after JKIA had its title, and only 10.6 hectares before then.
The NLC says the 119 titles are just a part of the illegal allocations on JKIA land. “Only those with available data (have been) included”, meaning hundreds others could be out there.
The real beneficiaries of the illegal excisions may never be known as most of the titles are in the names of shadowy companies and include notorious Syokimau firms, which have over the years been accused of land grabbing and defrauding buyers.
On November 22, the NLC summoned firms and individuals who lay claim to plots within JKIA to a meeting to “tell us how they acquired titles to land that belongs to JKIA”.
“They appeared and requested to be given time to respond to claims by JKIA, which had reported that the land had been given to the airport many decades ago and it got a title for the entire land measuring 4,674.6 hectares,” Ms Mbagaya said.