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Cash-strapped East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) risks losing four parcels of land to Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) over a 40 year old loan that has accumulated to Sh4.5 billion.
The cement manufacturer told Parliament last week that a huge chunk of the Sh10.8 billion it is yet to pay outsiders is owed to the lender and that it currently lacks the capacity to settle it.
Portland took an initial loan from the bank in 1978, which has subsequently been enhanced to the current level. Managing director Simon Ole Nkeri said the biggest chunk of the loan was taken in 2014 to the tune of Sh3 billion.
The company said it spent Sh151 million of the loan acquired from KCB in 2014 to purchase three dampers and excavators from India. The machines have since broken down, yet the ones bought much earlier are still working.
A further Sh128 million was used to buy double cabin pickups and prime movers. The double cabins have been rendered irrelevant to the company’s operations.
Mr Nkeri told MPs the money acquired from KCB in 2014, even though is indicated clearly that Sh2 billion was utilised in specific projects, was mainly a waste of taxpayers money.
“The Sh2 billion spent between 2014 and 2016 was a total waste of funds. Other than the grading cranes, the small precast plant and the prime movers… the rest of the projects was no value for money,” he told the committee chaired by Kieni MP Kanini Kega.
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