The Nairobi County Government’s plan to convert the Dandora dumpsite into an energy plant has suffered a blow after a new report revealed that the County Government does not own the entire tract of the land.
A report by the Office of Auditor General for the County Executive of Nairobi for the financial year ending 2022/23 reveals that the expansive Dandora dumpsite is approximately 50 hectares (124 acres).
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, however, notes that City Hall only possesses ownership documents for 15.02 hectares of the total 50 hectares.
“Management has ownership documents for land measuring only fifteen (15) hectares while thirty-five (35) hectares have no ownership documents,” reads the document.
As a result, the Auditor General highlights that City Hall risks loss or misappropriation of the land if the ownership is not regularized.
The document adds, “In the circumstances, failure to secure the County Executive assets may expose them to loss or misappropriation besides limiting the ability of the County Executive to offer service to the public.”
In addition, the Auditor General raised concerns regarding the effectiveness of Nairobi County’s waste management system. According to the report, officers Nairobi County contracted companies whose equipment were handling capacity beyond their contracted limit.
“Review of tender documents and contracts attached in support of garbage collection and disposal payments revealed that bidders were required to provide information on equipment that will be used to collect garbage for approval,” the report read in part.
“However, the County Executive paid contractors whose equipment were handling capacity beyond their contracted limits.”
Dandora Dumpsite
The Dandora dumpsite which is located within the Embakasi North constituency was officially opened in the 1970s.
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The site receives over 2,000 tons of waste daily and is ranked one of the largest in Africa.
According to international standards, landfills (dumpsites in Kenya) are required to be decommissioned and closed after 20 years.
Disputes about its ownership date back to 2016 when a German firm that had been contracted by City Hall to set up a Ksh28 billion power plant at the expansive dumpsite withdrew.
According to a 2014/15 report by the Auditor General, the firm named Sustainable Environment Management UG withdrew because the county lacked a title deed for the land.
The report revealed that the firm had asked the county to provide the title deed for the 30 acres before it invested in the project.
Plans to Transform Dumpsite
The firm aimed to invest in renewable energy using the waste as the raw material to produce as much as 160MW of power daily.
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In August 2023 the county leadership led by Governor Johnson Sakaja announced that waste collection at the site would increase.
This was after the County government acquired 27 new garbage trucks, in a move that would see the county hire at least 3,500 youth in the Environment department.
The county government had also announced a plan to convert the dumpsite into a 45 MW waste-to-energy plant that was expected to process up to 2,500 tonnes of waste per day.
A ruling by the Environment and Lands Court, however, suspended the implementation of the following an application filed by a Dandora resident.
The court suspension came at a time when City Hall was in the final stages of awarding the contract to a Chinese company which had met all the requirements set by the county government.
