HOUSES in Mombasa and Kilifi counties in Kenya are to be knocked down, obstacles that have been blocking container shipping routes and navigational beacons for years
HOUSES in Mombasa and Kilifi counties in Kenya are to be knocked down, obstacles that have been blocking container shipping routes and navigational beacons for years. The decision to demolish those buildings and homes by the National Land Commission (NLC), Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) is intended to prevent the African nation from being blacklisted by the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO), said Nairobi Standard.
According to the officials cited in the report, the IMO had threatened to stop ships from going to the port of Mombasa due to poor visibility of the shipping route unless the country removed the obstructing houses crowding the beacons.
NLC chairman Muhamad Swazuri told hundreds of homeowners at Senti Kumi village in Likoni, Mombasa that the houses blocking the navigation aids would be demolished.
'You have up to February 9 to remove your structures, or they will be forcibly demolished. We cannot risk losing shipping business because of people who have built homes around navigational aids,' Mr Swazuri warned.
There are up to 31 plots on the coastline affected by the move. However, the homeowners, according to Mr Swazuri, were served with notices to vacate the affected areas on January 18 2018 but they have so far refused to comply.
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