Caption: Katoteni Ranch Chairman Kyalo Nguthu addressing the press. He said area residents would obtain court injunction to stop planned construction of a Sh6 billion solar power plant on the land unless consulted by Kitui County Government. (Tom Waita/hivisasa.com)
Residents of Katoteni ranch in Kitui Rural Constituency have threatened to obtain a court injunction to stop construction of a 40 megawatt solar power plant on the 30,200-acre land by Kitui County Government in conjunction with a Japanese firm, Looop Inc.
Led by their chairman Kyalo Nguthu, the locals accused the county administration alongside Governor Julius Malombe of failing to consult them or their leaders prior to signing of a deal to set up the renewable energy project.
“As inhabitants of the proposed project site, it is our constitutional right to be engaged in planning and implementation of any project whether mega or small on this area,” Mr Nguthu told the press on Tuesday.
He said they were not against the planned construction of the electricity-generating plant but vowed to block it in court unless duly consulted.
In December last year, the county government inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) MOU with the Tokyo-based solar power generation company to build the solar plant at a cost of Sh6 billion by 2021.
The devolved unit committed to provide land on which the solar power station would be built, according to terms of the agreement.
During his visit to Kitui in January, Looop's CEO Soichiro Nakamura said actual installation of the solar power generation facilities would kick off in 2019.