Urban development feeds prospects of instant riches

In the sprawling Majengo informal settlement in Nyeri, high-rise buildings tower above shanties, the rapid urban development feeding prospects of instant riches.

An eighth-acre plot, or much smaller, fetches up to Sh10 million due to the high demand for the prime property – the neighbourhood is on the outskirts of the rapidly expanding Nyeri town.

Most residents have lived here for generations in poverty and although some would want to cash in on the sudden boom, family disputes have stalled transactions.

“We are the fifth generation and our land is inherited. The family has grown but the land has not expanded, which now makes it hard for people to sell,” Asha Njama, a community leader explains.

And in Ngurubani town, a rural centre near the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kirinyaga County, rice farming is threatened by the appetite for commercial plots.

The price of half an acre has increased to Sh8 million, up from Sh300,000 six years ago.

The homestead of Jane Kari, a 60-year-old widow, is sandwiched by tall commercial buildings, and investors scrambling for her one-eighth-acre plot won’t relent in offering her Sh2 million to leave.

Authorities caution

In the North Rift, authorities have cautioned that subdivision of agricultural land due to rising demand for commercial plots is a threat to food security.

The size of land under farming in urban areas such as Eldoret, Kitale, Kapsabet and other major trading centres has been on the decline due to change of land user to commercial.

In Nakuru, some residents of Nyamaroto informal settlement reportedly sold part of their land, giving rise to Ranges View estate, an affluent neighbourhood dotted with high-end bungalows and maisonettes.

Jane Kimani, a resident of Nyamaroto area, recalls she sold her land in 2010, for about Sh600,000 to an investor who built a home in Ranges View estate.

"I sold part of my land to pay school fees for my two sons and daughter.

However, my daughter dropped out of school, but my sons are working after they completed university," Ms Kimani told the Nation, explaining the genesis of the fastest growing Nakuru suburb, which threatens to drive more poor residents out of Nyamaroto area.

In Kakamega, development of upscale properties at Ejinja trading centre, an outpost not far from the town, is putting pressure on residents to sell their land and move further into the villages. 

These cases highlight how urban growth is putting pressure on some households that suddenly find they are no longer in a quiet rural setting, and the toll the scramble for commercial plots is having on agriculture.