State to build bridge to cushion residents from crocodile attacks

PERIOD: May 16 to 23, 2016

16/05/2016 : The standard, Page 10

• The government will build a bridge across Muti River at a cost of sh26m, Yatta MP Francis Mwangangi said.
• The legislator said that a feasibility study and other arrangements for the construction had been completed.
• It will be built along the Matangini-Nthungululu road in Mavoloni location, Machakos County.

Unsafe buildings to be flattened

16/05/2016 : The Standard page 16

• About 200 unsafe residential buildings are earmarked for demolition in the city.
• The NCA says the buildings to be demolished are in Dagorreti, Umoja, along Thika Road, South B, Zimmerman and Huruma.
• Huruma has the highest number of condemned buildings at 58 followed by Zimmerman with 28.
• South B has 19 unfit houses in Hazina estate that are owned by National social security fund managers.
• Demolitions are set to start on 17^th May, this is after Governor, Dr. Evans Kidero suspended the demolition last week for 7 days, to allow tenants find alternative housing.
• The Deputy Governor Jonathan Mueke, said that 7 houses in Mathare and Huruma will be demolished first.
• He also said that the county government will never approve buildings on riparian land, road reserves and rivers.

Now state launches mega road projects in kiambu county.

16/05/2016 : The Standard Page 20

• Kiambu County will have 140km of roads tarmacked in the next 3 years.
• Last month, President Uhuru launched the construction of the Ruaka-Banana-Thogoto-Gikambura-Mutarakwa-Limuru Road. The 60 km road, which cuts across 3 counties, will be built at a cost of sh2.8b. It is expected to open up areas and link them to southern and northern by-passes and the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway.
• Last Friday the transport cabinet secretary, James Macharia projects launched the construction of 80km roads in Gatundu south, Gatundu North and Thika constituencies which will be built at a cost of sh5b.the roads launched included Muigai- inn-Gachika-Gatundu-Kang’oo (sh2.2b) and Kibichoi-Ichaweri-Gachika (sh1.2b) in Thika, Broadway-Kiandutu-Athena-Muthaiga road will be built at a cost of sh580m while Courtesy Beach Loop road will be constructed at a cost of sh207m.
• Also construction of new roads in Bungoma, Kericho and Taita Taveta counties have been launched.
• Building of 10,000km rural roads set to begin despite World Bank funding delays

1. The country has been banking on a sh150b concessionary loan from the World Bank to speed up financing of the programme which has been rocked high cost of borrowing from banks.
2. James Macharia says that the programme will start despite the little money present for funding.
3. He says that they have decided to go back to contractors and negotiate with them the lowest cost possible.
4. Roads identified under the 5 lots are in Ngong, Wajir, Kiserian, Njukimi, Taveta, Kwale, Lamu among other areas.Read more

No land for construction of sewerage plant

16/05/2016 : The Standard, Page 30

• Kirinyaga county government is in dilemma over where to construct a sh4.2b sewerage system due to lack of land which is expected to serve Kerugoya and Kutus towns.
• The governor urged the cabinet secretary Mr. Wamalwa to help the county secure land for the project.

Blame oversight bodies for laxity of building supervision

16/05/2016 : The Daily Nation, Pg.16

• The collapse of buildings shows the laxity in the oversight authority by structural engineers, planning department of counties and, by extension, Nema.
• Everyone who had a role in the construction and in the occupancy of the building should be held accountable.
• Use of qualified personnel in construction works is a step forward in restoring sanity in real estate. it is worrying that most constructions have no registered professionals on site for supervision purposes.

Dandora dumpsite project

16/05/2016 : The Daily Nation,Pg.20

• County secretary Dr. Ayasi said that more roads leading to the dumpsite will be opened up to help Lorries taking garbage to the site make as many trips as possible.
• City hall entered a partnership with a German firm EMC Solutions, to build a sh28b electricity generation plant at the dumpsite.

Lapsset authority, Igad sign railway deign deal

16/05/2016 : The Business Daily, page 15

• The Lapsset Corridor Development signed a M.O.U with The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) secretariat on the detailed engineering design of Lamu port-South Sudan-Ethiopian standard gauge railway line.
• The lapsset standard gauge railway line is a major transport component of the lapsset corridor projects that is expected to foster trade and regional integration between Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia and the larger IGAD region.

Check quality of building materials to avert disasters

17/05/2016 : The Daily Nation page 16

• Manufacturers are compromising quality to optimize profits.
• Regular inspection of building materials should be done and every steel rod should bear manufacturer’s mark so that they can also bear responsibility for their products.

Rwanda abandons Kenya railway route, opts for Tanzania one

17/05/2016: The daily nation, Page 76

• Rwanda has announced plans to develop rail links to Indian Ocean ports through Tanzania.
• The Tanzanian route is shorter, cheaper and would consume less time during construction than the route transiting Kenya, said Rwanda’s minister of finance and economic planning Claver
• In 2013, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya agreed to link to the Kenyan port of Mombasa along a standard gauge railway that would cost about $13b(sh 1.3 trillion)
• The Tanzanian option would cost Rwanda about $800-900m.
• The Dar es Salaam-Isaka-Kigali/Keza-Musongati standard gauge railway project is expected to be completed by March 2018 and is estimated to cost the 3 countries $5.2b(sh523.2b).

Kenya to terminate railway at Kisumu after Rwanda exit.

• Kenya is mulling terminating the SGR in Naivasha or Kisumu after Rwanda pulled out of the flagship infrastructure project in the northern corridor.
• The extension of line to Malaba may no longer be necessary as it would be left hanging.
• Should Kenya still hope to extend the SGR line to Kisumu, it would still be viable because cargo will be transported over the lake to other East African states.Read more

School dormitory in south B could collapse

17/05/2015: The Standard,Page.12

• A sh23m two-storey dormitory at Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School in South B, showed signs of sinking.
• School authorities accuse the contractor of doing a shoddy job.
• Starehe MP Maina Kamanda blamed shoddy workmanship for the poor state of the building.

Why Chinese bank imposed SGR line operator on Kenya

18/05/2015 :The Business Daily, Page 16

• A china based financer forced Kenya and Uganda to pick a Chinese company as the operator of the rail business on SGR without public bidding.
• State-owned china Exim Bank told Uganda that they will only get funding to build their section in condition that it agrees with Kenya to hire the Chinese contractor to run the line from Mombasa to Kampala.
• Kenya will now sign a deal with China Communications Construction Company -the firms building the sh357b Mombasa-Nairobi line-to run the rail business.Read more

Construction of jetty for oil tankers starts next year

18/05/2016 : The Business Daily, page 18

• Construction of a larger docking facility for bigger oil tankers is set to start next year as the country races to expand its petroleum storage tanks to boost reserves and stabilize fuel prices.
• The construction will take about 30 months and project will also include building bigger storage tanks to boost Kenya reserves
• It has attracted 31 builders from across the world and will result to relocation of existing Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) which has a smaller capacity.
• Tenders for the construction will go out by July 2016.Read more

Chinese land another lucrative land contract

18/05/2016 : The Standard Page 40

• Government is inching closer to signing an agreement that will see the current contractor engaged in supervising the operations of SGR for the first five years of its operation. Since the next phase running from Nairobi to Naivasha is expected to be complete next year, the Chinese contractors may be here up to 2022.
• Speaking during an inspection tour in Athi River, Macharia said the move was necessary in order to address accountability and safety concerns that may crop up once the multi-billion-shilling project becomes operational.Read more

Real estate grew in 2015, thanks to continued demand.

19/05/2016 : The Daily Nation pg.41

• Real estate grew by 8.9% last year due to continued demand for residential and office space.
• Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that this growth was mainly in urban areas.
• Loans and advances for building and construction registered a substantial increase from sh80.4b in 2014 to sh.106.3b in 2015, according to economic survey 2016.
• The share of real estate to the gross domestic product has been increasing steadily from 5.1% five years ago to 6.2% last year.

Sh.132bn modern city coming up in two years, nyamira county.

20/05/2016 : The Daily Nation, page 22

• Gorvenor John Nyagarama signed a memorandum of understanding with Moke Gardens, the firm expected to build the city that will take at least 2 years.
• The project will begin in September.
• Other facilities expected to be put up include 40MW solar power-generating plant, modern clay roofing manufacturing plant, stadium and solid waste management plant.

Lifestyle Properties has announced its plans to develop residential units in Tatu City, Kiambu County while Carrefour, the French retail giant, opened its maiden store in Kenya at The Hub, Karen.

22/05/2016 : Cytonn weekly report 20. 2016

• Lifestyle properties developer, previously involved in housing projects along Mombasa Road, has announced its plans to develop 120 Residential units on 30 acres in Tatu city.
• This project will constitute about 12% of the 256 acres that has been set aside for residential development. The developer intends to provide affordable housing units of Kshs 6 mn to about 4,500 persons and the conceptual planning is still underway.
• The private sector has made significant efforts to address the housing deficit that has continued to be an issue.
• Housing deficit is more pronounced in the urban areas with the ever increasing rate of urbanization estimated to have been 4.3% between 2010 and 2015. A report by UN-HABITAT on Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme released in 2007 indicates that 60-70% of urban dwellers live in slums or slum-like conditions as a result of the government’s inefficiency in providing for public services such as roads, water, and sewerage.
• Masterplan communities are one way in which the housing, unemployment and infrastructural challenges often associated with poor urban planning can be addressed since the private developer has to provide infrastructure to acceptable standards to attract clients. Commercial and industrial segments often attract multinationals such as Nestle, Bidco and Dormans which offer job opportunities to the working population.

Carrefour, Opens its door in The Hub, Karen

• Carrefour, the French retail chain store, opened its doors this week in The Hub, an upmarket shopping mall in Karen. The retail giant whose target clientele is the mid to high-end individuals will occupy 20% of the 30,000 square feet mall. This is the first entry of the chain store into the market with the second expected to be in the Two Rivers Mall in Ruaka whereby it will take up close to 100,000 square feet.
• According to a report released by Deloitte in 2015, Kenya has the largest retail market in East Africa which is estimated to have been USD 23.7 Bn in 2013. The growth of the retail market is estimated to be 8.6% between 2014 and 2015 and this can be attributed to the increased expenditure by up to 67% especially among the Kenya’s middle class which constitute 45% of the population.
• While the retail market may appear a little saturated in the high-end outlets, there is a great opportunity for growth considering the fact that the penetration of retail market is still low at 18%. Furthermore, close to 70% of Kenya’s retail segment is informal with the formal retail market which is dominated by local and family owned brands constituting 25-30% of the market, much lower compared to South Africa’s formal retail segment at 60%. Read more