Sleepy Maragua is on the verge of economic take-off, according to private developers who project that its student population will hit 8,000 by 2025, raising demand for housing.
The promise of a windfall for the investors is in low-cost housing and other amenities to accommodate the 6,000 students expected to enrol at Murang’a Technical Training Institute (MTTI), and the upcoming Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) Maragua campus is expected to enrol 2,000 learners.
“Our worry is on how we will build decent low-cost houses to accommodate that population. We are very particular that we do not end up having slums,” said Prof Peter Kagwanja, the MTTI board chairman.
He added that discussions about how to come up with the units are involving local land owners, planners, surveyors and security personnel “so that we do not end up offering shanties that will be infiltrated by drug dealers and other criminals to live among our children”.
While the MTTI is operational with 790 students, KMTC, which is to be set up in the Maragua Level Four hospital’s compound, is scheduled to start in July this year. The project was scheduled to commence in July 2020 but politics saw it stall.
“The good thing about these projects is that they are surrounded by privately owned smallholdings. Besides the lands appreciating rapidly, their owners stand a huge chance of making a kill in this housing demand,” said a member of the steering committee Wallace Muraguri.
He said the price of an acre of land in the area has gone up to Sh5 million up from about Sh600,000 in 2018.
Dilemma
“The big dilemma that is playing out is how to make these landowners the owners of the housing units built according to the guidelines to be issued by a multi-agency team,” Mr Muraguri said, adding that the units must be standardised both in size and design.
County Commissioner Karuku Ngumo said the national and county governments will partner to ensure residents are helped to reap maximum benefits from the projects.
“We are aware that some of the landowners do not have title deeds, we will see how we can help them so that they are free to invest in the development of housing units,” he said.
Already, the county government, through Lands executive Winfred Mwangi, has promised to help farmers utilise their land fully.
“As a land economist, I will help locals pursue landownership documents as well as utilise their parcels to gain maximum benefits,” she said.
Prof Kagwanja said the projects are capable of opening up Maragua town and making it a business hub. He said that is the core reason the stakeholders in the management of the two institutions do not want the students to seek accommodation in surrounding towns. They want the students to be exclusively housed in Nyakagumo and Ikundu villages to create new opportunities in the area.
Other businesses
Students’ populations attract other businesses such as cyber cafes, eateries, salons and barbershops, and electronics sales and repair shops, among others.
“If 8,000 students were to each spend Sh100 per day, that means a new market worth Sh800,000 daily. Add rent and you can figure out for yourself the magnitude of opportunity staring at our people,” Prof Kagwanja said.
He added: “We want the students to be housed in structures that are like gated communities concentrated around the schools. This is a big opportunity for area landowners to escape maize and beans farming, whose returns have diminished owing to the high cost of inputs and erratic rains.”
Murang’a South Police boss Alexander Shikondi said security agencies will ensure criminal enterprises are locked out from gaining traction in the area.
“If need be, we will house some officers in the estates to be built for the students so that we can provide on-site vigilance,” he said. BY DAILY NATION