Insecurity, high cost of land push property firms to ‘city villages’

When Joseph Wangai decided to buy a house in early 2000, he was not in a hurry to settle.

Perhaps guided by the saying, ‘Once bitten, twice shy,’ he need a secure environment for his family.

His home had been broken into twice. So, he had to look before leaping.

After scouting within the Nairobi suburbs and peri-urban areas, Mr Wangai and his family settled for a house in a communal estate along Mlolongo Road, to the east of the city.

The scheme, which had 200 houses, provided the secure environment he needed as it was a gated community that had people living next to each other and controlled entry — by invitation-only admission, one might say — that his old estate did not provide.

The shift from individual houses standing on private property to communal estates where homes are separated by a fence is gaining ground in Nairobi.

Property developers see the preference for gated community as a response to the state of insecurity and the rising cost of putting up a property.

“The previous state of insecurity have driven people to prefer living together, which is a return to the olden days when people lived in villages for security,” Mr Festus Litiku, the vice-chairman of the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) says.

Developers have gone high-tech providing security gadgets like biometric readers and electronic cards to restrict access.

Besides enhanced state of security, real estate investors cite the preference for gated communities as a way of providing social amenities with ease and at cheaper rates.

Because of the economies of scale associated with construction of huge projects, the costs drop.

One of these gated designs is the planned Thika Greens, which will have a state-of-the-art golf course, waterways and open landscape. It will be built on an 800-acre land.

“The Thika Greens epitomises the changing philosophy of housing development as it provides high-class amenities, ensuring defined lifestyles that truly allow home-owners to access sporting gardens, fibre optic infrastructure and state-of-the-art shopping malls,” says Mr Robert Bunyi, the project advisor.

Other developers provide additional amenities such as solar water-heating kits, paved roads, street lighting, and sewerage services.

“By putting up such housing projects, the developers are able to have amenities such as power, water and roads provided by the local authorities, a situation that may be difficult for individual homes,” said Mr Joe Mungai, the chief executive officer of Tamarind Meadows.