An artist’s impression of the planned Isiolo tourism resort. The facilities will open up and help investors tap into a largely underdeveloped tourist circuit. Correspondent
Douglas Kunja was a police officer in 1988 when he was transferred from Machakos to Isiolo. But he would hear none of it and chose to resign.
“Isiolo was always the butt of urban myths. There was no tarmac, no running water and no sewage system. It seemed like the end of the earth and there was no way I was going to accept the transfer.”
Mr Kunja quit the force and went into real estate development. In March, 2011, he has voluntarily moved to Isiolo as one of the many economic migrants heading north.
He is developing office and rental properties to serve a growing demand as Isiolo suddenly explodes into Kenya’s newest economic hub. “With all these major projects going on in Isiolo, there is a mad rush to move there,” Mr Kunja says
“Every day, scores of settlers are arriving from Somalia, Meru, Nairobi and Central Kenya among other areas. Demand for property is rising like we have never witnessed before.”
Hardware store
One such settler is Ahmed Ibrahim who arrived in Isiolo from Garbatullah only a month ago. Ahmed has opened a hardware store and says business is picking up every single day; “Only a year ago, Garbatullah was busier than Isiolo economic-wise. But right now, you cannot compare what we were doing there with what we are doing now. Isiolo is reborn and all the signs are pointing to this soon becoming a major economic centre.”
Isiolo has been targeted in the Vision 2030 programme to become an economic hub that will open up the Northern part of the country to development.
A resort city is planned to tap into a largely underdeveloped tourist circuit that comprises Meru National Park, Shaba Game Reserve, Samburu Game Reserve and about half a dozen private conservancies in the region.
The road to Moyale, part of the Northern Corridor that links Cape Town and Cairo, is under construction and has already gone past Isiolo, opening up the town for a smooth connection to Nairobi, Meru and Nanyuki
But what is creating more buzz is the construction of an international airport.
Business Daily visited the site where Gundan Singh Construction, the project contractor, is already on the ground and work is under way.
The airport is planned to connect the resort city with global travellers as well as provide a key outlet for miraa and horticulture exports from the Mount Kenya regions. Also envisioned under Vision 2030 is a railroad to open up landlocked South Sudan and Ethiopia. That too will make Isiolo a major transport node.
Isiolo is also a major focus of oil exploration efforts with sources at the Ministry of Energy intimating that it may be just a matter of time before oil is struck. This is because Isiolo sits on one of the world’s richest hydrocarbon belts. All these projects will take a few years to conclude. But investors are not waiting.
When news of Isiolo’s boom reached Samburu late last year, Elijah Leseyiel sold his two cows and headed there. It has only been months since he started selling Samburu handicraft but he has come a long way.
“When I first came here, I used to sell crafts worth an average of Sh500. Then, I used to stay with a friend. Today, I make up to Sh3,000 a day and I now have a shop and live in my own two-bedroom house with my wife.”
The Business Daily witnessed new constructions sprouting all over the town.
The cost of land has also been spiralling out of control. According to Mr Kunja, an eighth of an acre used to sell at Sh200,000 only a year ago in the Jua Kali area of the town. Today, the same goes for at least a million shillings.
“The major buyers of real estate are the banks which are now scrambling for Isiolo. Major social buyers are the Somalis who are arriving with big money. The Somalis, along with the Merus, Kikuyus and Samburus are the major economic drivers in this town. But there are also significant numbers of white people, Asians and several others albeit in a much smaller scale.”
Isiolo Central District Officer Gitonga Murungi says the town is an investors’ dream.
“This is a city being built from scratch and opportunities are just about everywhere. The airport will provide opportunities for clearing and forwarding operators which will create jobs for our people. The same goes for the resort city which will create opportunities for tour operators, transport providers and hotels.
“All in all, the airport, the resort city, the railroad and oil will all be the drivers which will in turn create economic ripple effects that will rub on virtually every sector of the Isiolo economy.
“The person on the street will gain from that as there will be jobs for local people. The kiosk entrepreneur will also benefit as his products will have a higher demand.”
Mr Murungi adds that Isiolo has been receiving an unprecedented upsurge in economic immigration.
“It is the kind of movement that has really helped Isiolo as the newcomers are bringing fresh ideas, new capital and new ways of doing things. And of course, with every new investor coming in is a further endorsement that this is Kenya’s hottest new city. We are no longer the lost city in the middle of nowhere.” [email protected]
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