Taifa Gas Investments SEZ Ltd has moved to the Court of Appeal to overturn the suspension of its Sh16 billion Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) project at Dongo Kundu in Likoni, Mombasa.
The Environment and Land Court (ELC) had halted construction of the 30,000-tonne terminus pending the hearing of a petition by local residents.
The injunction was issued on August 5 following a petition filed by Mohamed Karungu and Raphael Nyiro, who raised environmental concerns over the project.
Through lawyer James Oduol, Taifa Gas said the company has lodged an urgent appeal with the Court of Appeal, which is scheduled for October 8.
“We seek to have the matter stood over for three weeks to allow us to argue our case at the Court of Appeal,” Mr Oduol told Justice Stephen Kibunja of the ELC in Mombasa. The petitioners, represented by Jackson Muchiri, agreed that waiting for the appeal was reasonable. Justice Kibunja granted the request, setting October 14 as the date for the ELC to be updated on the progress at the appellate court.
Earlier, on September 15, Justice Kibunja had refused to suspend the injunction temporarily. The judge noted that while the suspension may cause losses for the company, the potential environmental damage from continuing construction could be equally serious. “The flipside is that the damage to the environment may equally be as great if the works were to continue as the applications are heard and determined,” he said.
In their petition, Karungu and Nyiro, residents of Likoni near the project site, claim the planned LPG terminus will require clearing indigenous trees, excavating land, and installing tanks, which could lead to soil erosion and harm the local ecosystem. “The petitioners aver that clearing the vegetation will interfere with the coral rock and will negatively affect the ecosystem around the land,” the petition states.
The petitioners also raised concerns over the construction of a pipeline, warning it could suspend sediments, damage water quality, reduce sunlight penetration in the sea, and harm fishing grounds that sustain local livelihoods. The National Environment Management Authority has been named as an interested party in the case. The petition argues that the development may have lasting adverse effects on land use and the surrounding environment.