Vipingo Ridge attracts the rich with Sh45m villas

One of the houses at BaoBab Vipingo Ridge Golf Estate in Kilifi County. [PHOTO: MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

The Sh2.5 billion Vipingo real estate project at the coast is nearing completion. The project that targets luxury home buyers has already put up 56 villas on a 2,500 acre parcel of land, and is currently boasting a 10 per cent occupancy.

A four bedroomed villa goes for Sh45 million. The list of home buyers at the project reads as who-is-who in the country, from a former vice-president to a current Supreme Court judge.

To add the icing on the cake, leading investment firm Centum Investments has also bought land around Vipingo, and wants to put up more houses to accommodate clients who might be left out of the project. Vipingo sits in Kilifi County and is a 40-kilometre drive to Mombasa.

“We have completed the construction of roads, sewerage systems, water systems, power and all the amenities that home owners need,” former Safari rally champion and chairman of the project Alistair Cavenagh said.

Mr Cavenagh added that he was one of the three investors behind the project which was started 10 years ago. Vipingo seeks to also target international tourists who want to buy homes at the Kenyan coast so they can use them when holidaying. Clients are also allowed to buy half-acre plots of land and keep them for future development, as long as they pay a $250 (Sh25,185) monthly service fee for the plot’s maintenance.

But the biggest attraction that Vipingo has put up and in which it aims to use to attract even wealthier international clients is the Vipingo Ridge Golf course which on Tuesday got the prestigious Professional Golfers Association (PGA) accreditation. PGA accreditation means that Vipingo’s 18-hole golf course can attract world-class golf tournaments which could in turn attract tourists.

But apart from the golf course, Cavenagh said the project would also offer other facilities which will see home owners and golf players and their families get to enjoy.

“We have a tennis court, beach club, swimming, horse-riding, woodland areas and conference facilities all aimed at fulfilling our clients’ luxury needs,” Cavenagh said. “To make it even more attractive for tourists, we are talking to wildlife organisations who will help us build an animal sanctuary and tourists can enjoy the wildlife,” he added.

The high-end estate is also offering jobs to the locals with 85 per cent of its 400 workforce coming from the surrounding communities.

“We donated 120 acres of Vipingo land to local squatters as part of our Community Social Responsibility (CSR). Area politicians wanted to take a piece of the land but we stood our ground and gave it to the squatters,” General Manager Mike Round-Turner said. “We also want those who come to play golf not to come with their caddies, but to hire local caddies.”