A heated exchange has pitted two factions of traders, following the demolition of some parts Lunar Park business center.
The demolitions were sanctioned a day after the Kenyan government sealed an inter-government land transfer deal that would allocate the piece of land belonging to the Kenya Railways Staff Pension Scheme, to the Nairobi Expressway mandate.
After a meeting with stakeholders, Kenya Railways management came to a conclusion that the changes would be effected, promising that no trader will lose space to operate.
However, some traders argue that the government didn’t follow the right procedure in evicting them.
Felix Ngui, a car dealership owner told Uzalendo news that they were only given 8 hours eviction notice.
“We were not given any eviction notice from the start. it was until Tuesday that we were told to vacate within 8 hours,” said Ngui.
He further explained that they had binding leases that were renewed in November 2019, but the government was ‘chasing away them like dogs.’
“There was no communication, we had a business here which was more than 200 Million, we had more than 600 cars and more than 250 workers who are now jobless. We have bank loans which we were paying,” added Ngui.
He called upon the Railway management board to consider compensations for business lost in the demolitions and ‘unlawful’ termination of a lease agreement.
The main aim of the demolitions is to build a bus terminus that will see PSVs from Machakos, Ngong and Rongai operating from there thus decongesting the Nairobi CBD.
While addressing the media yesterday, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director General, Major general Badi, said that the government has put in place measures to ensure that the bus park will instead attract more customers to their businesses.
The project will be undertaken by the China Road and Bridge Corporation under the mandate of the Nairobi Expressway.
