Push for ‘ten-trees-per-compound’ law mounts

By ERIC WAINAINA

In the recent past, areas neighbouring major towns in the country have experienced unprecedented growth in real estate developments.

Investors are buying land on the outskirts of towns and quickly turning them into concrete jungles. Many self-styled estates have come up in areas, which were previously unthinkable. Some are the perfectly designed gated communities while in others, the design and the entire outlook is left to the investor.

Whereas some of the locations come with an attractive environment made up of simple trees and flowers, others, on completion, look like an estate in a desert.

Should the government come up with laws that compel investors to plant trees on their plots?

John Mwaniki, a property dealer with interests in Kiambu and Nairobi, says if left uncontrolled, the upcoming estates will host estates more or less like ghettos. Mwaniki, who is the director of Jeckmas Services, says most of the investors never mind the environment in their compound or in their neighbourhood.

Compel investors

“We are not saying the government should control the kind of house one is constructing. What I am saying is that investors should be compelled to leave space to plant trees in the estates,” says Mwaniki..

He cited some estates coming up in Kiambu County where developers only think of erecting barbed wire on the perimeter fence.

“We have estates with “horrible looks” because investors never thought seriously about the environment. If an investor cannot plant at least ten trees on his or her compound, I think we should have a law,” he says.

To have attractive estates, Mwaniki says developers should not only focus on putting up modern-style houses, but should also plant trees, fruit trees and flowers in their compound.

Trees, he says, are needed to do landscapes, create beautiful backgrounds, enhance building designs, provide privacy and enhance beauty.

The situation, however, is a little different with major upcoming gated communities such as Tatu City, Eden Ville, Migaa and Buffalo Hills and Golf Leisure, where investors have given space to trees and well-manicured grass in their designs. Some plot buyers have taken it upon themselves to plant at least ten  trees in their compounds.

In Kiambu, he gave an example of an estate at Kimiti on Kiambu-Ruiru Road, where developers have voluntarily planted trees on their plots.

The estate, which stands on a former farmland, is barely five-years-old and from a distance, different tree species give the area an appealing look.

About two kilometres away, another new estate around the Southern bypass has a different look: One that resembles a dry land.

Bernard Maina is the chairman Kamuthi Housing Cooperative Society, which is undertaking a Sh1.8 billion real estate project aimed at transforming 1,233 acres of a semi-arid land in Thika. After demarcating the plots, says Maina, they planted trees and three fruit trees on every plot.

The idea, he says, is to give the stretch of land, which is covered with long grass and acacia trees, an appealing green look.

“I think it should be compulsory that a developer, irrespective of the plot size, especially in areas where several people buy plots in the same neighbourhood, to plant trees,” he says.