The National Assembly’s Committee on Environment Forestry and Mining today made a 360 degrees lens of the 600 acares eucalyptus trees forest cover at the Eldoret International Airport to ascertain the true value of the trees.
The Committee led by Hon. Vincent Musyoka (Mwala) took the initiative following public outcry on the valuation report done by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) who were sought by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) on claims that they did not have the capacity to ascertain the value of he said trees.
There has been a value decline of the forest cover from the initial valuation done in 2014, where the value was put at 406 million. In 2016, the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning did their valuation on the forest cover and came up with a value of KES 2.1 billion but later in 2021 a revised valuation report on request by KAA was provided by the same Ministry of Lands who quoted a figure of KES 1.2 billion. This showed a reduction of approximately KES 861 million.
It is against this background that the lawmakers invited the Kenya Airports Authority Acting CEO Dr. Mohammed Gedi, the Chief Conservator of Forest Mr. Alex Lemarkoko and the CEO of the Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI) Dr.
Jane Njuguna to respond to the raised issues of alleged under valuation of the forest cover, provide a justification on significant downward revision and to substantiate the report with updated figures during today’s fact-finding visit.
The officers led by the CS in the Ministry of Environment Climate Change and Forestry Dr. Deborah Mulongo and the PS in the State Department for Forestry Mr. Gitonga Mugambi informed the Committee that the project was undertaken with the aim of covering KAA idle land and also as a way of generating revenue to run their projects.
“Hon. Chair, having successfully done the project, we engaged KFS who valued our trees and gave us a figure slightly above 400 million. The plan to dispose of the trees was done through a tendering process with six bidders submitting offers”, Said KAA acting CEO Dr. Mohammed Gedi.
“Blocks 1, 3 and 5 were reserved for large-scale sawmillers as per the Kenya Forest Service pre-qualification certificate while blocks 2, 4 and 6 were reserved for small and medium sawmillers following a valuation report by the Ministry of Lands and Physical planing”, he added.
The Committee was further informed that the technical team undertook the exercise on a hypothetical approach aimed at providing a quick estimate for book keeping purposes and relied mostly on secondary documented information which may not have been entirely accurate.
And that the second valuation relied on a more meticulous approach entailing actual tree enumeration, classification and measurement.
Ministry officials led by CS Dr. Deborah Mulongo and PS Gitonga Mugambi called called on the need to improve the laws around tree valuation in the country giving an example of South Africa who he said have embraced digital technology in the area.
The Committee on the other side called on the Ministry to work closely with the lawmakers and relevant stakeholders to make the necessary changes in law.