Construction boom around varsities

By Harod Ayodo and James Ratemo

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture is fuelling a construction boom in Juja town and its environs.

The construction explosion is among myriad developments adjacent to the institution as investors erect storeyed hostels targeting students.

As developers scramble to meet students housing demands the price of land has skyrocketed.

Brilliant Ventures Operations Director Kenyan Macharia says the price of land price near the university have doubled over the past year. "An acre of land adjacent to the university costs Sh2.5 million, up from less than Sh1 million two years ago," he says.

"Several graduates around Juja have been absorbed into the real estate sub-sector either as property valuers, consultants or estate agents," Macharia says.

Targeting students

The developers are also erecting residential units targeting university staff.

"I used to pay less than Sh4,000 for my bedsitter two years ago but today I pay Sh8,000," says Miss Maureen Gathoga, a student.

Apart from buying gorceries Gathoga and her classmates spend money surfing the Internet for research and photocopying notes.

But some of the housing lack sewerage facilities. Ministy of Public Health Sanitation and Public Health Officer, Theresa Njoroge, says there are occasions when raw sewer flows to the streets. "We are concerned with some of these developments," she says.

The story is similar at Kenyatta University, which is well served with rental houses, supermarkets and recreational centres.

Surrounding the university is Kiwanja moja to the rear, Kahawa Sukari and Kahawa Wendani estates.

According to Mr Zachariah Ratemo, a banker in Nairobi and and alumni of the university who lives in Kahawa Wendani, the development around KU cannot be divorced from the growth of the university. "When I joined KU in 1998, Kahawa Sukari was a swamp. Today the area is dense with residential apartments, shops, supermarkets, bars and a petrol station, he says.

He says lecturers and other senior university staff own most of the buildings because they sensed the demand early.