City Hall's attorney unable to explain Sh47bn Dandora waste-to-energy tender deal

The mystery around the Sh47 billion Dandora waste-to-energy project continues to grow after the Nairobi City County Acting Attorney Christine Ireri failed to acknowledge the existence of a public-private partnership between the county and a private developer who was awarded the contract.

This revelation came during a session with the Justice and Legal Committee, where Ireri and Finance Chief Executive Charles Kerich faced scrutiny over the county's increasing tendency to sign PPP agreements without involving the county assembly.

Committee members pressed the county officials to present all agreements related to PPPs, but they were unable to provide any credible documentation justifying the lack of adherence to due process.

The Dandora project, awarded in July 2023, was halted after facing legal challenges amid concerns regarding the circumstances of the tender award.

Ireri acknowledged the existence of laws governing PPPs but could not confirm if Nairobi County had entered into such an agreement for the Dandora project.

"I am not aware of any PPP that the county government of Nairobi has entered into, but I understand that any PPP project must be procured under the PPP Act 2021," she told MCAs.

The committee said the involvement of the county assembly is mandated by law, as outlined in Section 64, Subsection 5 of the PPP Act.

However, Majority Leader Peter Imwatok countered, insisting that Section 65 explicitly requires county assembly approval before entering into any PPP.

"The county attorney is misleading the committee because Section 65 states that any county government intending to enter into a PPP must seek approval from the county assembly," he said.

Committee's Chairman Jared Akama revealed that he is aware of at least six PPPs signed without the assembly's involvement, labelling the Dandora waste-to-energy and Eastleigh market projects as controversial and potentially illegal.

Governance expert Eliud Wekesa described the Dandora project as unlawful due to the lack of public participation and violations of procurement laws, calling it a "direct illegality".

He warned that anyone could halt the project in court, given the numerous complaints received by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) from various stakeholders, including pre-qualified companies alleging bias in favour of the Chinese firm awarded the contract.

Despite these issues, the county moved forward with the tender, referenced as NCC/RM/VOL.358/ITEM.NO.01/287/A./3882/2022-2023, dated July 25, 2023.

On August 2, 2024, Nairobi City County Chief Officer in charge of Environment, Hibrahim Otieno, confirmed that the Dandora project was still progressing.

"It is the first time we have gotten to a position where we could say we have moved further than in any other administration in the waste-to-energy project," he said.

Otieno noted that the project aims to tackle solid waste management in Nairobi, claiming that negotiations for the project began in 2013.

The already filled-up Dandora dumpsite holds about 1.8 million tonnes of solid waste against a 500,000-tonne capacity. Nairobi generates 3,000 metric tonnes of waste daily and most goes to the Dandora dumpsite.

Garbage collection in Nairobi has been a recurrent problem for years. Former governors Mike Sonko and Evans Kidero were unable to sort the issue.

The defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services, under Director-General Mohamed Badi, also failed to deliver even with the help of facilities from the national government.

Several vehicles from the National Youth Service were deployed to different estates to help in garbage collection in its first days in service.

Dandora dumpsite was officially opened in 1975 with World Bank funds and, 26 years later in 2001, it was considered full. In 2016, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority opposed plans for the Ruai landfill, saying it fell within the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport flight path.

KCAA argued that the dumpsite, just 10 kilometres from the country's main airport, would breach the International Civil Aviation Authority requirement that such a facility be at least 13 kilometres from a runway.

ICAO says the movement of birds from a nearby dumpsite can cause fatal accidents or serious damage to the aircraft.

During the 2022 campaigns, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and his deputy Njoroge Muchiri said the city garbage menace has been a problem in the past two governments.

They said if elected, they would ensure that plans commence to set up a recycling plant that will turn the waste into energy.