Western’s new property hotspot

It is lunch time on a sunny Friday at Comrades Kula Corner at Kibabii market. The hotel, as its name suggests, is full of comrades from the new Kibabii University College.

I meet the hotel proprietor, Aggrey Shamwama, a happy businessman who works at the university as a security officer. His new hotel is a beehive of activity, especially during lunch time and morning hours.

“Since the opening of the university, business has been good. I used to close as early as 6 pm, but these days, I close as late as 11 pm and I am thinking of operating 24/7,” says Shamwama, noting that the hotel serves students and staff, a population of about 200 to 300 people per day.

Shamwama is among many businesspeople benefiting from the establishment of the new university. Kibabii University College is a constituent college of Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

Expected to receive a its full university charter soon, this campus has made Kibabii in Bungoma County a property hotspot.

Growth

According to Calistus Wafula, a resident, the area has lately seen fast growth, with land prices rising steeply, thanks to a buying spree by developers and individuals.

“The asking price for land in the morning is not the same as that of the same parcel of land in the evening. Property developers are in a mad rush to buy land to build hostels for university students, workers and lecturers,” says Wafula.

Substandard hostels are mushrooming in the area as property developers move in to cash in on the hostels deficit, according to Bungoma County Executive for Land, Urban and Physical Planning, John Munyasia.

“We are soon coming up with a physical development plan to guide development in the area so that we don’t end up with slums,” says Munyasia.

The area, traditionally considered an educational and mission area, is living up to that billing: It is synonymous with colleges and schools, which include Kibabii Teachers College, Kibabii High School and Cardinal Otunga Girls High.

According to Emmanuel Rabach, a manager at Galaxy Ventures, a real estate company in Bungoma town, the growth of Kibabii area has spilled over to other places like Makutano where Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology is located and Tuuti area, both of which are on the Chwele-Bungoma Road.

Land prices have skyrocketed in the last five years, with a 50m by 100m plot that is next to the road now going for between Sh1 million and Sh1.5 million, up from between Sh200,000 and Sh250,000 five years ago.

Roads

The areas has good, tarmacked roads, tapped water, good security and social amenities like Kibabii dispensary and shopping centre.

Rabach, however, appeals to the Bungoma County Government to come up with policies to guide development and deter haphazard construction of hostels, which may result in slums. For students, finding a hostel room is a nightmare.

Joel Murungi Thuranira, a second year student at Kibabii University College, says securing a hostel room was so hard he had to send money to a friend in the area to book one for him. He pays Sh3,500 per month for the room.

Hotels, boutiques, brick making, groceries, leisure and recreation are booming businesses in Kibabii market and around the college.

Those in the transport business are also doing roaring business ferrying students to and from class.

“There is no need to go to Nairobi to look for a casual job. I just have to make sure my bicycle is serviced and I will make money,” says Wakasiaka Michael, a boda boda rider at Kibabii market.

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