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A man walks on a sewer line on River Kiuu. FILE PHOTO | NMG
After being arraigned in court a decade ago, Titus Njari Ndei, 37, mobilised his fellow landlords in Kitengela to set up a private sewer line.
Currently, some 818 Kitengela plot owners are enjoying a 45-kilometre two-feet wide sewer line that had initially seemed impossible to achieve.
The sewer line, which has so far cost them Sh85 million, is connected to the neighbouring Athi River Export Processing Zone Water and Sewerage Project trunk sewer that was set up in the 1990s as pivotal support infrastructure for the Athi River Export Processing Zone by the National government at a cost of Sh700 million.
In 2013, Mr Ndei, a locomotive engineer alongside the other 22 plot owners were taken to Kajiado law Court by the county government for continuous raw sewer emanating from their buildings contrary to the public health act.
They were released on a bond of between Sh180,000 and Sh200,000 each pending hearing of the case but before the case advanced Mr Ndei convinced the magistrate to allow them to come up with a long-lasting solution in two months.
“We(the accused) moved with speed to acquire the necessary authorisation from the Export Processing Zone (EPZA), Nema and other relevant authorities after registering ourselves as Kitengela EPZ Neighbouring community sewer project within the first two months to convince the court,” Mr Ndei, project secretary general told Nation on Wednesday saying he is planning to rally his group to request for their bond refund now that the sewer line is in place.
Each plot owner was required to pay Sh250,000 flat rate fee on top of Sh1,000 registration fee. In addition, a non-refundable tariff payable to Epz was set in three categories from Sh7,500 to Sh74,000.
Most Kajiado satellite towns including Kajiado town, Ngong, Kiserian and Ong’ata Rongai do not have existing sewer systems. All the satellite towns have been elevated into municipalities.
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