The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) has been given a reprieve after a flower firm lost Sh1.6 billion cases over a high voltage power cable evacuating electricity from the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) in Marsabit county.
Afriscan (Kenya) Limited, along with its directors Benjamin Kariamburi and Margaret Wambui, asked the court for Sh1.6 billion in damages for crop and infrastructural losses.
Their argument was based on the fact that they had been dealing with Hepericum plant blooms since 2005, until February 2017 when they were destroyed after providing Ketraco a wayleave.
They claimed that business was prospering with constantly rising profits up until the beginning of February 2017, when the state corporation agreed to pass a high voltage power line with a capacity of 310 megawatts originating from the LTWP.
The flower farm was forced to close its operations due to the damage done to the flowers and its watering system during this treatment, suffering them considerable loss.
Power China Guizhou Engineering, a Chinese business, took on the 436-kilometer Loiyangalani-Suswa transmission line project.
The wayleave had taken up eight acres.
Justice Mary Oundo dismissed the flower company’s claim, concluding that the company and Ketraco had an agreement for a land easement (a “wayleave”).
In the deal, they agreed to accept Sh1.2 million as full and final compensation for the loss of land use.
