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KPC pension to build Sh900m Kitengela estate

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A construction site. Administrator says project will help grow fund to Sh10bn in five years. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Kenya Pipeline Company Pension Scheme is set to make its first real estate investment of Sh900 million in a 101-maisonette gated community in Kitengela.

Scheme administrator Sammy Njeru said a 10-acre plot has been set aside for the stand-alone units that will retail at Sh10 million for each of the 47 three-bedroomed one-storeyed units. The 54 four-bedroom units will go for Sh11 million.

Mr Njeru said the scheme’s rising asset base, now standing at Sh5 billion, presented a valuable opportunity to invest in the sector. The Retirement Benefit Authority’s ceiling on investment in real estate stands at 30 per cent.

“The idea is to have an asset mix that will see our fund’s value grow to Sh10 billion in the next five years and our diversification into the property market offers the foundation for the planned growth,” he said.

The scheme has purchased a 40-acre plot in Kitengela and a four-acre plot at Riat Hills in Kisumu County. Mr Njeru said the scheme is in discussions with the 1,542 members and their sponsor, Kenya Pipeline Company, to raise contributions.

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Chairman George Simiyu said investment in Kenpipe Gardens, which represents 13 per cent of the investment portfolio, was informed by the need to cushion the members against volatility in the paper wealth market, especially at the bourse where investors’ wealth had been wiped out following a bear run on political uncertainty.

Entry of Kenya Pipeline follows multimillion-shilling investments in real estate by pension schemes such as Safaricom’s Sh7.5 billion mall-cum-residential units development in Athi River, KPA’s South C project, KenGen’s Rosslyn Springs and Stima’s Runda, Bogani and Loresho properties.

The government plans to tap into pensions’ nearly Sh1 trillion asset base to finance infrastructure.