Major infrastructural projects in Mombasa West have sparked a rush for property in the area, leading to a sharp increase in land prices.

The Mombasa-Miritini Road, as well as the Airport and Port Reitz roads, are being expanded into dual carriageways to rid them of perennial traffic jams. The Sh23 billion projects are expected to be completed in three years.

Similarly, the construction of the Sh327 billion standard gauge railway, has contributed to an appreciation of land prices in the area.

The prospect of these areas developing has seen a lot of activity involving land transactions, resulting in the doubling, or even tripling, of land prices over the past two years, according to surveyors.

The national Chairman of the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK), Mr Paul Wambua, says the trend will climax when the projects are completed.

“Infrastructure is a key component in land use since it opens up areas as we saw happen with the expansion of Thika Road, and the same thing is expected in Mombasa West,” he says.

While the price of an acre in Port Reitz has doubled to Sh80 million in just two years, an eighth of an acre that was going for Sh1 million in Changamwe is now going for between Sh1.5 million and Sh2 million, Mr Wambua says.

“We expect that, as the pattern for change in land use moves from residential to commercial, banks will relocate there, storage yards will be set up and light industrial and commercial activities will take over,” says Mr Wambua.

The same scenario is replicated along the 40-kilometre stretch between Mombasa and Mariakani, where investors are buying huge chunks of land and putting up warehouses and petrol stations.

Meanwhile, Nzailu Nzeki, a real estate agent based in Mariakani, says an acre along the highway is currently going for more than Sh15 million, up from less than Sh500,000 three years ago.

“When word went round that the railway project was finally going to start, prices started shooting up, peaking when the road project was announced,” he said early this week during a telephone interview.

The roads, which form an important cluster around the port of Mombasa, will involve the construction of interchanges and overpasses on a six-lane highway, the first time Mombasa will be witnessing infrastructural investments of this magnitude.

The first phase of the Sh30 billion Dongo Kundu bypass has already started, and involves the construction of a road from Mombasa port to Mariakani, 10 kilometres away.

This road will be used by trucks ferrying cargo from the port, and is expected to address the congestion in Changamwe and Magongo, which experience frequent traffic snarl-ups. Real estate agents say that already, inquiries by prospective investors have started flowing in, with rents for new residential houses in Mikindani, Miritini and Mazeras projected to rise.

Mr Davis Kithiki of DK Real Estate Ltd says ridding Changamwe and Magongo of trucks will open the areas up for big-time residential and commercial investments, since it will take less than 15 minutes to reach Mombasa Island.

“At the moment, we don’t have a single shopping mall in an area that is near an international airport and we expect that once the congestion is addressed, this will be a prime location for putting up office blocks, malls and residential units for the middle class,” he said.

Land acquisition by the National Land Commission (NLC) for the projects is also expected to heighten activity as residents who pocket millions in compensation to pave the way for construction are expected to invest in real estate.

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) says that, for the first time it is running a programme to sensitise the people involved and prepare them for the expected boom.

“We have come up with a plan where, for one to be compensated, they have to give the name of a family member. We don’t want a situation where the head of the family is paid and disappears,” Ms Rose Oloo, a sociologist with KeNHA, told residents of Miritini during a recent sensitisation forum.

Source: Daily Nation

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