Mombasa County government and private developer given 21 days

The Senate housing committee has given Mombasa county government and the Sh6 billion Buxton housing project developer 21 days to respond to a petition raised by former tenants of the estate in question.

The committee chairman Senator Paul Karungo wa Thang’wa has deferred the site visit to the affordable housing units whose first phase has been completed.

He told the relevant parties the committee has given them 21 days to put their defense in writing.

“Kindly, we want you to put in writing what you have elaborated before on the housing project to the committee,” he said.

Thang’wa told both the county governor and the private developer that if the committee had to go with the initial letter his fear is that it would be subjected to a lot of questions.

He spoke during the committee’s session on the controversial construction of the affordable housing units held at Serena beach hotel in Nyali constituency, Mombasa County.

The committee chair said he is optimistic 21 days are enough for both of them to sit down and come up with solutions on the old, dilapidated 542 units on the 14 acres of land to be converted to 2,000 units.

Thang’wa, who is also Kiambu Senator, told the session that after receiving the written report the committee will convene another sitting session.

He told the session the committee will also sit down and come up with its own recommendations.

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On his part, Mombasa governor Abdulswamad Nassir assured the committee they will convene a joint meeting with the private developer and the national government to iron out teething problems of the project.

He pointed out they would pick the day of the meeting themselves but the national government will be fully involved.

“The contentious issue of the project is the converting of the affordable housing unit into social housing,” he pointed out.

The governor told the committee his priority is to ensure county workers get a good deal in the tenants-purchase scheme.

East African Legislative Assembly [ EALA] MP who also the private developer, Suleiman ShahbaI, told the committee he is open for scrutiny and investigation on the project.

He added he won the tender for the project fairly and squarely and refuted claims he was favoured.

“I wish to welcome Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission [EACC] to carry out their investigation to establish and unearth the truth,” he said.