Plan well or new slum will be born

Late last year, this column sensitised prospective land buyers to beware of fraudulent cartels at Malili ICT Park on Mombasa Road. Government efforts to fence and secure the site have helped.

With these developments and warnings, we don’t expect to read about some “Syokimau-like” demolitions come commencement of activities at the par.
It may help to highlight some of the obvious business opportunities spelt by the ICT Business Process Outsourcing activities that’ll occur within the park. It will quickly attract many investors, senior managers, professionals, technicians and other service providers. And the numbers may build up quite fast.

Some will commute daily, others will reside occasionally while many others will want to live next to the park. But the park will also attract regular visitors daily.

This should be great news to many.

Remember that the 5,000- acre park is over one hundred kilometres from Nairobi. Some transport agency may therefore wish to begin to specifically plan for this route since the regular Nairobi-Mombasa fleets may not cope with the additional passengers.

The new numbers will need accommodation…overnight, periodic and permanent.

This calls for guest houses and other low, medium and top range facilities to provide food, drinks, bed and breakfast.

We shall need sufficient residential units to cater for a wide range of clientele too. The families, hotels, hostels and restaurants will call for a regular supply of food, vegetables and fruits.

Will the nearby farms and farmers cope?
As always, resident families will quickly begin to seek education facilities for child care, nursery, primary and secondary schools. And given that this is an ICT Park, one can see the need for related training colleges, both middle and high level.

I have little doubt too that some of the BPO drivers from afar will want to visit on short notice and without taking our jam-bedevilled road transport system.

They will want to fly in. This may initially call for a nearby airstrip and, with time, perhaps an airport.
Can everyone see that the place will also call for sufficient water and power supply?

Are the respective service providers prepared? Those in the transport and construction industry should spot the obvious opportunities.

They must position themselves early.
Construction will soon be a big industry on and next to the park.

The park and its population will call for other social, security, commercial, financial and recreational services that cannot be fully discussed in this limiting column.

The bottom line is that the infrastructure and facilities currently available at Malili Market will not cope.