Land prices have recorded an increase in Ol Kalou Municipality, Nyandarua County. This has been attributed to the rapid growth in the area. Land brokerage companies have invaded Ol Kalou and a high number of investors flooding the town.
The increase has been said to be by over 500% in the past year, with buildings now occupying what was previously agricultural land. A quarter-acre piece outside the central business district that sold for Sh120,000 last year now goes for Sh720,000, while those in the CBD that sold at Sh300,000 now sell for Sh1.2 million.
Others flocking to the town are lawyers with a keen interest in land who previously operated from Nyahururu and Nakuru towns. The invasion by lawyers, commercial agents and other investors has caused a sudden shortage of office space in a town whose most shops and office-designed buildings remained unoccupied.
Agricultural land
Also affected by the prices is agricultural land as farmers and landowners convert their farms to estates or subdivide it to sell in smaller plots. At Kiganjo market, about four kilometres from Ol Kalou, an acre previously sold for Sh400,000, but a quarter now sells Sh750,000 and above depending on the distance from the Ol Kalou-Kinangop highway.
Construction of the county and national government lands offices in Ol Kalou, all located at Ardhi House, next to the county headquarters, is also a motivation, as well as the moving of national government offices, including the Interior ministry’s county headquarters, to Ol Kalou from Nyahururu town.
The location of the offices on the busy Gilgil-Ol Kalou road has given the once neglected and abandoned town a new face, catching the eyes of investors. At all entry and exit points in Ol Kalou are major infrastructural developments to entice the investors flooding Ol Kalou Town.
Towards Nyahururu on the busy highway, in the Ol Kalou industrial area, is the near-complete Sh100 million national government-funded potato and vegetable storage plant, which sits next to the Sh1 billion potato and vegetable processing plant jointly funded by the county and national government.
The town is getting so squeezed for space that even the county government has resorted to offering some services from previously abandoned buildings about 10km from the Ol Kalou county headquarters. Among them is the Investors Help Desk, established at the Oleriedo Market, which had been abandoned and neglected for more than 10 years.
Trade executive Raphael Njui said the market will be a one-stop information centre for investors. Mr Githinji, the Jonimax Commercial Agents director, said the clearing of over 2,400 plots for development has also encouraged investors.
“Double allocation of plots frustrated the growth of Ol Kalou town for years. People were afraid of buying and developing the plots. The bigger challenge now is the slow pace of approving development plans,” he said.
