A copy of the lease in our possession indicates that Gvasaliya was to pay Sh100,000 per month inclusive of Value Added Tax. The eight-month lease started on June 26.
"The lessee (Gvasaliya) is at liberty to demolish the wall demarcating the premises and shall re-construct the same upon expiry of the lease with an access gate," states the lease agreement.
But the construction of the jetty was subject to approvals from the relevant authorities, and an Environment Impact Assessment was also to be conducted.
At the jetty, four uprooted baobabs lay on metals, ready to be loaded onto a seagoing vessel for export. But locals say that the water near the jetty is shallow for a big ship to dock.
When The Standard team visited the scene, it found six police officers and a team from a private firm guarding the jetty. Two baobab trees at the jetty have started to dry up.
In the agreement, Gvasaliya was allowed to bring down part of the wall and install all the equipment used to load heavy cargo. But would restore the facility to its original state after the lease.
Gvasaliya did not pick up our phone calls nor answer our texts. One of his agents, Yusuf Said, who had earlier agreed to give us an interview, later stopped picking up our calls.
According to villagers, Gvasaliya wanted to build a road from Tezo to the jetty in Bofa.
He leased Karisa Chonga's land, at a cost of Sh25,000, to build a murram road to the loading site.
In both agreements, Gvasaliya committed to restore the area.