Dubai schools firm partners with Naivasha homes investor

Real estate developer Longonot Gate Development Company has partnered with Dubai-based schools investor to build an international-curriculum learning institution in Naivasha.

Under the partnership Gems Cambridge International School has acquired a 99-year leasehold on a parcel of land within the Sh85 billion Longonot Gate luxury homes development in Naivasha.

Gems is expected to develop an international school and operate it on a 20-acre piece of land set aside for the institution.

“Gems International school has purchased the land for about Sh300 million, the current value of an acre within Longonot is about Sh15 million,” said Duncan Owiti the commercial sites sales representative of Longonot Gate in an interview with the Business Daily.

Gems Cambridge International School in Karen is modelled after the several schools built by the investor in the United Arab Emirates, balancing academics with extensive co-curricular activities.

READ: Dubai school to build six training institutes in Kenya

Several high-end international schools in the country have embarked on aggressive expansion plans to tap the growing number of middle class parents who prefer internationally accredited education for their children.

READ: Elite schools tap rising demand for foreign education

The proposed school is expected to cater for education from nursery to high school under both the Kenyan and British curriculum and complete with boarding facilities in order to appeal to parents outside Naivasha.

“Development of Longonot Gate is set to run for five years and Gems are currently in the process of securing a developer in order for the planned two-year construction to start in 2015,” he said. Construction of the luxury homes within the property began in February.