The Kenyatta family’s ambitious Northlands City is taking shape years after the project was commissioned. The Ksh500 billion project necessitated the government to expand the Eastern Bypass that connects Mombasa to Thika road in anticipation of heavy traffic.
Northlands City will have a mixture of low-to-high income residential areas, schools, agriculture zone, commercial space, an industrial area and a central business district sitting on 11,576 acre parcel of land.
Here is the story as told by WoK.
Strategic Environmental Assessment
The land will be developed in a period of fifty-years cast in four phases. A Strategic Environmental Assessment carried out on the city plan reveals that the city will have a population of 250,000-people.
Part of the assessment reads:
“……. the proposed development will ultimately house a population of 250,000 people. It is projected that this population will generate up to 30,000 vehicles per day on to Eastern Bypass and 27,000 vehicles per day on Thika Road.”
The mixed-use development will be put into the following uses:
Northlands Industrial Park
The city will additionally host an industrial park that will sit on 695 acres . A logistics park will be set up in 650 acres of the land and the rest set aside for Brookside Dairies.
According to a progress report on Northlands City, land set aside for industrial development is being sold at Ksh 40,000,000 per acre after investors injected funds to develop infrastructure in the planned city.
This saw a project to connect residents to water, internet, electricity, sewer, perimeter wall, and roads construction initiated in October 2018.
Brookside and Gicheha Farm
Brookside is East Africa’s largest milk processor that operates in more than twelve countries and has been in business for twenty-five years. The company works with in excess of 200,000 dairy farmers giving a key source of income for them.
Brookside is currently the sole occupier of the vast piece of land sitting on 65 acres of Northlands City. Gicheha farm, Brookside’s milk supplier, is also located in the vast piece of land.
Uhuru Kenyatta Secondary School and Peponi School
Eighty-six acres of the city is occupied by the two schools. Peponi School is a private institution that comprises the Peponi House Kabete Kindergarten, Preparatory School, and the Peponi Senior School.
Uhuru Kenyatta Secondary School is also in Northlands City.
Residential Housing and the CBD
Northlands City has set aside 3,570 acres for residential housing broken into three categories – low, medium, and high-density residential housing each taking 3134 acres, 130 acres, and 306 acres respectively.
According to the plan, the city will also have a business district located near the Thika superhighway and Kenyatta University.
According to the submitted report, “The low density housing segment will have 601 villas and 1,320 town houses while the medium density area is reserved for 670 townhouses and 368 housing units in blocks of flats. A total of 6,980 units on block of flats and some 3,100 townhouses have been planned for the high density residential housing area.”
Wildlife Conservancy and Recreation
A total of 1697 acres have been set aside for an open recreational space with 266 acres of it set for water features. This will offer residents a means to enjoy their stay in the city. Moreover, a wildlife conservancy will be set up in the city occupying a total of 5156 acres.
The master plan further shows that 33 acres of the land have been set aside for either a hotel or shopping mall and 2 acres earmarked for a clubhouse.
