Ghost town reawakens

By LYDIAH NYAWIRA

It is considered a ghost town at the heart of central Kenya and for decades everything went quiet after darkness set in — shops closed, clubs shut down and people disappeared from the streets. Save for a streetlight or two and shadows, nothing was alive.

But for the last two years, Nyeri town has been slowly showing signs of coming back to life, with nightclubs, supermarkets, fast food joints and even street vendors working well past dusk.

In what is seen as an investment boom, new apartments, commercial buildings, holiday homes and private resorts coming up everywhere.

Perhaps the best example of a new crop of investments in Nyeri town is Dreams Bar and Restaurant in the heart of the town.

The finishing touches on Dreams Bar, a multi-million-shilling investment of Global Eagle Company Limited, are now almost done but the establishment has already opened its doors to the public.

Muriuki Nyamu, one of the directors of the company, says since he was a boy, he has never seen such growth in the town.

“We came together as a group of friends and identified the spot we wanted to put up our business and it was not a surprise when we found out that the building was put up in 1920 and the space has been idle for 27 years,” Nyamu says.

He notes that the owners of the space had long moved away and were willing to give the company a chance to put up the establishment.

Nyamu says Nyeri earned the reputation for being a ghost town from being dormant since the 1990s.

“Many of the buildings in Nyeri town were put up during the colonial era by white settlers between 1900 and 1930,” he says.

Coffee boom

Nyamu says the town remained unchanged till during the coffee boom of the 1970s and 1980s when more buildings were put up by people who got more cash from coffee proceeds.

However, after coffee prices plummeted in the 1990s, the only source of income for most families was the small workforce employed in the provincial administration.

Nyamu says one of the reasons he was confident enough to invest in a business in Nyeri was devolution and the younger, vibrant and educated professionals who have flocked to the town in the last few years.

“Because of devolution, we expect more people to come to the counties to invest and we want to lead the way and be an example to others,” Nyamu notes.

Nyamu’s sentiments were echoed by Patrick Mwangi, a real estate investor in the town, who started his own firm seven years ago.

“When I started out, the first two years were tough because the houses were few, and the real estate market was relatively slow in Nyeri,” says Mwangi.

But this has changed. “Every other day, we have people putting up rental houses in estates such as Ruringu, Skuta, King’ong’o, Ngangarithi and Kamakwa and these are local investors who choose to build residential plots on their pieces of land,” he says, noting that many of those looking for houses are university students who want to be closer to the town.

High housing demand has led to an increase in rent in the town. Seven years ago, says Mwangi, rent for a two-bedroom unit was Sh6,500. That has increased to between Sh10,000 and Sh12,000.

He notes that the opening of campuses by six major universities in the town has changed business radically for everyone.

“The students can afford these houses because they cost-share, and they do not want to live in hostels because they want freedom and be close to various amenities like clubs and supermarkets. So rent is probably going to keep rising for a while,” a beaming Mwangi says.

Mwangi points to the need for entertainment spots and shopping malls as being behind the growth of commercial buildings expected to house various supermarket chains.

According to John Maina, the county executive for housing and planning, at least five supermarket chains are expected to set up shop in Nyeri town. He says Nakumatt, Naivas, Uchumi, Magunando and Mathai supermarkets are expected to open branches in the town.

Population growth

“Nyeri town has experienced population explosion occasioned by educational institutions and business people are now willing to invest in the county to cash in on devolution,” Maina says.

He says the need for entertainment spots and shopping malls was leading to investments in both commercial and residential property in various towns in the county

“At the county level, we have ensured that development approval system is done within three days, down from a month,” he says, noting that apartment blocks and hotels are also coming up in other neighbouring towns like Karatina.

The hospitality industry is also not left behind: various new hotels have sprung up while old timers like White Rhino are also upgrading and increasing room capacity.

“We have an investor putting up a hotel in King’ong’o area, with a room capacity of 110, while White Rhino is putting up about 80 rooms. In Mweiga, we have a hotel which just opened with various facilities such as swimming pools and 40 rooms,” he says.

Landowners, he adds, are now willing to release their land for development.

“Some of the building in this town are ancient and the heritage will be protected, but urban renewal will continue,” says Maina.

He explains that the investors are not only local but also speculators who are optimistic about the county government.

“We are telling those who are holding on to some of these old buildings and refusing to develop them that we won’t renew their leases,” he warns.

Maina says development approval applications were flooding his office.

For Nyamu and Mwangi, the new face of Nyeri both during the day and the night is a welcome sight for the residents of Nyeri. The ghost town has now found a new lease of life after a century of stagnation.