Town now boasts controlled development of real estate projects,

Two years ago, Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago suspended the sub-division of land in the county.

This was in order to allow the drawing up of a masterplan that would guide the county’s real estate and property development.

The move was principally aimed at placing checks and balances against the mutilation of agricultural land for purposes of real estate development, a temptation largely motivated by increasingly attractive land prices.

The governor does not regret the move as it now forms an integral pillar in Eldoret’s real estate development.

“Unlike in the past where people would put up flats, bungalows and other developments without a plan, there is now controlled licensing of real estate projects,” Mr Mandago said in an interview on Tuesday.

“We are now engaging the National Housing Corporation and the National Social Security Fund to develop flats in some of our estates,” the governor added.

Controlled change of user, easing pressure on Eldoret’s central business district, and expansion of land for residential use are some of Mr Mandago’s biggest challenges as Eldoret is bursting at the seams with business potential.

MONEYED ATHLETES

“We have now developed regulations and zoning plans and we are opening up residential areas and other areas for the development of commercial properties,” Mr Robert Ng’isirei, the Uasin Gishu executive for lands and physical planning, says. “We are also working with some government departments to give us land for the planning of an industrial park.”

Mr Ng’isirei admits that pressure is high on Eldoret’s central business district but remains confident that, with the plans they have developed, it would be managed.

“We are talking to the people who own old buildings within the central business district to develop them, but the problem remains traffic and parking areas,” he fears.

However, the Moi University Pension Scheme seems to have a solution to Mr Ng’isirei’s parking worries.

The pension scheme is constructing a Sh1.8 billion, 26-storey building that will significantly ease the pressure for office space and central business district parking.

Scheme manager, Mr Charles Nyamieno, says the environmentally-friendly, ICT-savvy building will be ready for occupation in January 2016.

“The building will take up parking almost equivalent to that of the entire Eldoret CBD, with slots for 400 vehicles,” he said on Tuesday.

The North Rift region is home to millionnaire athletes who rake in tidy sums from global marathons and track competitions, a factor that has had a significant influence on the spiralling property prices.

A cursory glance at prices on the Eldoret property market indicate a fast-growing economy.