The glory and gory side of the superhighway

Less than three years ago Thika town was simply an urban/Administrative centre that served the residents of Muranga, Gatanga and parts of the larger Gatundu Districts.

But with the construction of the Thika Superhighway, the town has assumed a metropolis status, a development that has come with a lot of challenges to the rural folks.

The immediate challenge that was experienced was the actual use of the super-highway with over 84 people mostly students of institutions of higher learning that dot the highway losing their lives after being knocked down by speeding drivers who had yet to master it.

Area base commandant Jane Mbevi in liaison with the management of the Super-highway introduced several management strategies, with World Bank chipping in and installing CCTV cameras in an attempt to tame the black stretch.

Several road blocks were erected on the eight-lane road to reduce speeding, but this ended up being used as a cash cow by area traffic officers who saw an opportunity of cashing in on the drivers caught contravening the rule.

Ms Mbevi says between January 2012 and June 2012 the traffic department was able to raise more than Sh45 million in fines for speeding and more than 200 drivers arraigned in court for traffic related cases. Accidents continued being a challenge on the super-highway with drivers blaming the Chinese construction companies for failing to erect proper road signs whenever they were doing any major adjustments to the highway.

Gradually, eight pedestrian fly-overs on the black spots along the highway were constructed and the traffic department criminalised careless crossing of the highway by pedestrians. Any pedestrian caught crossing the highway away from the designated areas would be arrested and taken to court.

Brought in millions

The other main challenge is the skyrocketing of prices of property along the superhighway, with the real estate trade taking a centre stage in the otherwise lacklustre industrial hub of Thika town and its environs were known for.

Chunks of coffee and tea plantations in Gatanga, Ruiru and Kandara investments have been sold out and transformed into up-market gated community estates such as Tatu City, Chania Ridges and Green Acres in Ruiru, Thika Greens, Bahati Ridges and Kamuthi Controlled Development Estate all in Thika District.

Fraudsters relocated to the area with innocent members of the public losing millions to land brokers who issued them with fake title deeds.Land buying companies sprouted in their hundreds.

Mayor Geoffrey Kaara noted at a function in Ruiru recently that land brokers were cashing in on senior residents living alone in the rural towns. After promising them a few millions of shillings, they cunningly buy away their land with quite a number of them finally ending up evicted from their ancestral land.

Kaara called on the area security personnel to come to the rescue of the old men and women falling prey to the easy money that is being dangled to them by the land brokers.

 He asked the area OCPDs to close in on the rogue land brokers. “Locals have been exposed to high flying criminal activities which have taken the area by storm. The locals are not used to this kind of land business where millions of shillings are exchanging hands in less than 24 hours thus throwing the locals into a frenzy for quick sales,” explained the mayor.

Sophisticated fraud

The price of quarter an acre of land along the super-highway which was last year selling at between Sh350,000 and Sh400,000 now goes for between Sh800,000 and Sh1.5 million depending on its proximity to the highway.

Prices of houses also sky rocketed in the area with many tall buildings in the name of apartments sprouting from all corners of the metropolis. Developers out to make easy money from rental houses have transformed the otherwise two main street town into a city with prices of rental houses doubling or tripling in the last few years.

Major estates like Ngoingwa, section 9, Makongeni and Landless have come up with prices of houses in these posh estates ranging from Sh10,000 to Sh20,000 shillings for two bedroomed houses up from between Sh8,000 and Sh10,000 respectively.

Consequently, the three major slums in the area; Kiandutu, Majengo and Biafra have expanded twofold since many families have been pushed out of houses that they used to afford in the past and have sought solace in the slums.

In came institutions of higher learning also seeking to cash in on the expansion that was brought about by the improved infrastructure.

Thika town and its environs boast of over ten major institutions of higher learning with an approximate population of over 100,000 students.

Ruiru OCPD David Kirui says the biggest challenge that he was facing was an upsurge of sophisticated land fraud occasioned by the escalation of prices of land in the area.                                                          

  — KNA