Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi has put on notice illegal occupants of the five-acre Kenya Pipeline Company land at Port Reitz in Mombasa.
The land, which is next to the Kipevu oil storage facility and adjacent to the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited storage facility at Port Reitz, has been the subject of a prolonged court case which ended in KPC’s favour.
“It is a matter that is protracted but which I am committed to solve once and for all,” Wandayi said on Thursday in Mombasa after a tour of the area.
The squatters have built their structures at the foot of the oil pumps that pump petroleum products out of the facility to the main line that goes to Nairobi.
According to the CS, the continued stay of the people on the land endangers their lives.
“If something is to happen to our facility at Kipevu, then a lot of fatalities will happen and that is something we can’t allow to happen under our watch,” he said.
Wandayi also noted that if something happens on the residents’ side that would occasion damage to the facilities at Kipevu and Port Reitz, there would be a terrible loss for the country.
He said the situation thus has to be dealt with fast.
“I understand that a court order was issued that required those people to move out of that place. Of course, the court order is yet to be implemented.
“But we are first going to give reason a chance. We will work closely with the county government of Mombasa, the local political leadership in Changamwe and the ministry to find a mechanism of relocating those people to another place,” he said.
He said if that fails to take place, the government is under moral and legal obligation to ensure that place is cleared of people.
However, despite the existence of the squatters there, the CS said the bigger culprits are the big fish who have gone ahead to put rental houses on the land.
“These are people with means to relocate and do their business elsewhere. So, we shall start with them. If you are a landlord on that land, this is a notice to you, start making arrangements to relocate,” Wandayi said.
He said the innocent tenants will naturally find alternative places to live in.
At the same time, the Energy CS expressed confidence that Kenya will soon recapture the Rwandan market for fuel products.
Wandayi said this will go a long way in furthering Kenya’s objective of integrating the region through enhanced infrastructure.
“Currently, we serve Uganda through a different model, we serve DRC partly, Southern Sudan and Rwanda will be coming back to the fold soon,” the CS said.
Last month, Kenya Pipeline Company managing director Joe Sang said Kenya is in the last stages of negotiation on an MoU with Rwanda to deliver fuel products.
Uganda, through their Uganda National Oil Company, recently started importing their own petroleum products but through the Kenya Pipeline Company, which handles stores and transports the fuel for them.
KPC is handling 90 per cent of the Uganda fuel.
Wandayi on Thursday said once the “ambitious and progressive project” of extending the oil pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala in Uganda and eventually to Kigali, Rwanda is done, Kenya will have made a huge step in the integration ambition.
The project will be undertaken jointly by Kenya and Uganda.
“As we speak, we are at the final stages of establishing a mechanism of implementing it by putting in place the funding mechanism that will be made public soon by the two countries,” he said.
The CS expressed confidence in the management of KPC and KPRL under the supervision of his ministry.