Kisumu’s new posh estates for the rich

A section of Riat Hills in Kisumu West sub-county [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Wealthy businessmen and politicians are transforming Kisumu city’s outlying areas into a residential paradise, thanks to land shortage in the once-famous neighbourhoods. Steep and rocky hills that stood in the horizons of Kisumu are now turning into leafy-suburbs as investors’ appetite hits fever pitch and land prices skyrocket.

This trend has been attributed to the ever-shrinking land for residential and commercial developments in a city sandwiched between Lake Victoria, an expansive airport and Kano plains, which is synonymous with flooding. The recently renovated port alone sits on 20.4 square kilometres of land while Kenya Railways owns thousands of acres. The land occupied by the two entities is nearly a quarter the size of the town.