Three governors from Nakuru, Narok and Kajiado have noted that land disputes and closure of the Narok-Mai Mahiu highway were affecting operations in the multi-billion industrial park in Mai Mahiu.
While decrying the time taken to resolve the court cases, the Governors who were accompanied by Mps and Senators from the three counties noted that this was affecting development projects.
They agreed that tens of land disputes in the counties should be resolved away from courts while closure of the road by herders should be a thing of the past.
This emerged during a meeting between the elected leader and security officials held in Lake Naivasha Resort to address the emerging challenges.
Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui called for the respect of the law by all communities living near the dry port and the busy road.
He termed the meeting as a pro-active move meant to address the emerging issues that affected the three counties.
“We have agreed that the issues of land disputes, closure of road and sand business can be resolved away from the streets,” he said.
He termed the industrial park as a critical component of the government development agenda as goods worth millions of shillings were collected from the center on a daily basis.
His Narok counterpart Samuel Tunai noted that the perennial closure of the road by the herders was eroding investor confidence.
He said that several countries had already invested in the dry port noting that demonstrations and land disputes were eroding investor confidence.
“We have had a crucial meeting where we have discussed the issue of land disputes, sand harvesting and the closure of the road and we have agreed that this can be resolved through meetings,” he said.
Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya who chaired the meeting issued a warning to those closing the road that they should stay away.
He said that this was affecting hundreds of passengers and even tourists heading to Maasai Mara and Hellsgate national parks.
“We have agreed that KENHA should mark the road afresh and identify special crossing points for livestock to avoid accident cases involving the animals,” he said.
On cattle rustling, he said that more security officers would be deployed to Mai Mahiu to tame the rustlers from Kajiado West who had for months terrorized area residents.
“On the issue of sand we have formed a committee involving all the stakeholders so that the issue of prices, youth employment and rehabilitation of land can be addressed,” he said.
Present were Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina, Kajiado Deputy Governor Martin Moshisho, Naivasha Mp Jane Kihara, her Narok East counterpart Ken Aramat among others.