The Pangani Affordable Housing Project initiative will go on as planned after a Nairobi Court dismissed a petition seeking to stop its commencement.
The court heard that the county acted within law in evicting the residents and enough consultations were done between the two parties.
High Court judge Kossy Bor ruled that there were no sufficient grounds to halt the commencement of the project that is part of the Big Four agenda.
Lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, who represented the county, said it would be bad if the court allowed third parties and political interests to override the much awaited project.
Kinyanjui said concrete consultations have been going on between the two parties from the year 2015.
“The claims that the residents were not consulted hold no water because the county has been engaging them from 2015. This was not an overnight decision,” Kinyanjui said.
Governor Mike Sonko has maintained that the project remains unstoppable and that the county has no apologies to make over the eviction of a few tenants who had defied the agreement reached between the two parties.
The 48 tenants were given Sh600, 000 each as compensation and were guaranteed first priority once the first phase is complete in the next one year.
Majority of the tenants had already moved out while the few who remained wanted yet more consultations, a move the county found suspicious and triggered by third parties out to frustrate the noble project.
The court ruling now means that the contractors of the project can now hit the ground running.
All the houses were pulled down yesterday and Governor Sonko had ordered the contractors to be on ground Friday morning.
The project will see 1,588 modern and affordable housing units constructed in the area.
Once complete, occupants will be given will a 30-year period to pay a lease fee of Sh3 million.
This means with a maximum of Sh8,000 a month, one will be able to own the two and three bedroom houses.
Governor Sonko has warned against politicizing of the project, noting that its purpose is to improve the livelihood of city residents and to cater for the housing need of the ever increasing population.
“Let’s not bring politics into this matter because our target is improving the standards of living within the city,” Sonko said.
He said he is ready to be a one-term governor if it means serving people will cost him his seat.
“I would rather be a one-term Governor and leave a good legacy for the people we serve than be a two-term Governor who will not change the lives of Nairobi residents for the better,” said Sonko.
The governor said the residents’ lawyer misled the High Court by not admitting that the county had complied with the provision of Article 40 (4) of the Constitution by compensating the tenants and even giving them the first priority to own the housing units to be constructed.