The controversial Ksh.4.4B Ndunyu Njeru-Ihithe Road has a new petition filed against it.
Instead of proceeding with the proposed roadway, CAK asks the tribunal to require the Kenyan government to reevaluate building a road via an alternative route.
Citing the serious environmental harm that the planned roadway will cause, the alliance demanded that the National Environment Management Authority’s (NEMA) license granting the Ksh.4.4 billion road construction be revoked.
“We are calling the government to revoke the permit that allowed the road to be built.
Chair of the Green Belt Movement Board Nyaguthii Chege stated, “We have brought the government’s attention to the legitimate and severe environmental impacts of the proposed road.”
The controversial Ihithe-Ndunyu Njeru route connects the counties of Nyandarua and Nyeri.
NEMA requested in writing, in January, that the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA)
permission for the road, whose building had been put on hold by a judge following a 2009 lawsuit brought by environmentalists.
The development was authorized by NEMA Director General Mamo Boru, subject to an assessment of the road’s width, which should be reduced from 40 to 25 meters, especially in regions where it crosses the Aberdares National Park and Forest Reserve.
The road’s main portion, which stretches 52 kilometers from Ihithe to Ndunyu Njeru, passes through Njengu, Treetops gate, and Amboni for 12 kilometers;
Ihithe-Kiamutiga-Mukarara for 3.6 kilometers; the ark gate access road for 2 kilometers; and Munyaka-Koinange-Heni Mwedandu Njoma-Weru for 21 kilometers.
The Kenya Forest Service (KFS), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and NEMA first rejected the project’s clearance due to worries that it would upset the Aberdare ecosystem.
