Sleeping giant awakening

While most towns in the country have been growing rapidly thanks in large part to devolution, Bomet, the headquarters of Bomet County, seems stuck in a time warp.

The 40 year-old town has no easily recognisable supermarket brand, and there’s no restaurant worth writing home about. However, a number of hotels that can be star-rated are setting up shop in the town, raising prospects for the hospitality industry. Fairhills, located some eight kilometres out of town, is the most prestigious, with Brevan, Twiggs and Famous Gate being the other passable ones.

Although it is the county’s capital, Bomet town has only 10 apartment blocks that might be considered satisfactory by the upper and middle classes. Most of the other rentals are single-room structures with shared pit latrines locally known as “landisiek”. Remarkably, some of these structures sit on prime land.

One characteristic that Bomet shares with many urban centres, however, is poor planning, apparently with no zoning laws dictating the types of structures allowed in a given area.

Thanks to the local people’s reserved nature, Bomet is one town where you can find a family selling a piece of land in town and buying another in the interior to prevent urbanisation from “intruding” into their private space.

House-hunting has been singled out as the greatest nightmare for people who have been transferred to the area as a result of devolution or are newly employed. Water supply is also a challenge, with frequent rationing.

Bomet has fewer than 10 banks compared with neighbouring Kisii town, which boasts almost twice that number. Not even the improvement of social amenities facilitated by devolution, such as the improvement of roads and connection to electricity, has stimulated much development in the sleeping giant strategically located between Kericho and the world famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

However, Mr Ernest Cheruiyot, a resident and real estate investor in the county, says the best of Bomet could soon be realised with the coming of the University of Bomet (which has already admitted 500 students) and the Standard Gauge Railway, which is expected to traverse the county on its way from Naivasha to Western Kenya.

“Bomet is still a young town. The previous county administration did not make any obvious attempts to woo real estate investors or other businesses,” says Mr Cheruiyot, who owns Lenana Estate located a few metres from the CBD, and Koma Plaza, the first business centre to be established in the town in the early 1990s.

GAME CHANGER

“The only advantage we have enjoyed is being the county’s headquarters, which led to job creation, and Sh5 billion in circulation, which was not there before. “But the coming of SGR and UoN will be the game changer,” he told DN2.
As he took DN2 on a tour of the town, Mr Cheruiyot, counted the “decent” apartments in town, most of which have fewer than 20 units, on the fingers of both hands.

His Lenana Estate, which is still under construction, for instance, has 12 complete units comprising one and two bedrooms. They are highly sought-after despite being priced higher than the normal rates. Other apartments include Wima, Burgei, Royal Guest and Benchmark.

The average rent for a two-bedroom house ranges between Sh13, 000 and 15,000, while a single-bedroom, self-contained unit goes for Sh7, 000 to 10,000. With the high demand and low supply, people book houses still under construction.

These factors point to the risk-averseness of the people of Bomet.

“Investment rates are still very low in Bomet. That is evident by the few number of banks in the town. The reason is simple: banks go where people can take loans and not just make deposits because they are judge them by their loan books. Few banks mean lack of appetite to borrow, meaning people don’t invest,” said Mr Cheruiyot, who grew up in the town and has witnessed it grow from a single street, when the surrounding area was virgin land.

He says that, while investing in real estate is tough, it is not risky.

With the advent of devolution, there was a dramatic change in the town’s dynamics with the arrival of more than 4,000 government, Red Cross Society of Kenya, bank, betting companies, and insurance employees, among other organisations, moving to the town.

ACUTE HOUSING SHORTAGE

Mr Charles Langat, a resident, said a number of professionals who were transferred from major towns, and who thought they would save on rent in the town, were in for a rude shock when they found little difference in rents. Frustrated, many of them would stay in hotels for a few weeks as they scouted for better options while others opted to buy plots on the town’s outskirts and build their own houses.

“Because of the housing shortage, most workers bought land east of the town, driving prices up in the area. The land west of the town near the 37,000-seater Bomet Stadium is where students (of Bomet Teachers’ College and Bomet University) live,” said Mr Cheruiyot. The area is unattractive due to its clay soil; high-rise buildings are not allowed in the area.

Parts of central Bomet have both clay and red soil while the east is well drained, hence the rush.

The advent of devolution saw land prices soar, not only in Bomet but also in Tenwek and Longisa towns, with each hoping to host the county government headquarters. A story is told of an investor who sold a 50x100 plot in the central business district for Sh25million; the prices later stabilised at between Sh4 million and Sh7 million.

An acre of land four kilometres out of town costs about Sh1 million while a similar parcel in the interior goes for even less than Sh500,000.

But his could slowly change with the planned construction of at least two railway stations in the county, with a main station planned at Kyogong and a passenger station at Sachangwan or Soimet, or both. Surveyors and engineers have already marked the places where the railway is expected to pass.

Mr David Langat, a resident of Sachangwan, says there is excitement after the government promised that 40 per cent of the work on the railway line will be done by the local people, who will also supply some construction materials.

“The news also sent land prices skyrocketing, with one-tenth of an acres costing Sh400, 000, up from Sh200, 000. Buyers include local business people and ‘outsiders’,” says Mr Langat.

The local people are excited about the SGR because, first, it is likely to create jobs. In addition, it would also mean speedier transportation of processed tea to the Mombasa auction for tea factories. The railway would reduce the time to less than half a day, compared with the current two days by truck. Sachangwan station will be a few metres from Kapkwen centre, where the county government is upgrading an airstrip.

The two mega projects are expected to transform Kapkwen into an upmarket suburb.

"I foresee a situation in the distant future when Kapkwen will become a rich suburb like Westlands in Nairobi. Kericho has Brooke while Meru, a commercial town, has Makutano where hotels, residences and such-like ventures are situated. Kapkwen is the next frontier,” says Mr Cheruiyot.

Another project that is likely to transform the town is the construction of a bridge on the Nyongores River linking the area around the stadium to the overlooking undeveloped Chebirir and Tulwap Mosonik Hills, where there are quarries.

This would allow for the construction of more high-rise buildings in the uninhabited area, thereby offering more and better accommodation away from the bustle of the CBD.

The hospitality industry in the region is expanding, thanks to the tourists who stop over on their way to the Maasai Mara or Kisumu, as well as conference tourism largely promoted by the county government.
The manager of the 18-month old Fairhills Hotel, Mr Wesly Korir, said business had picked up well, with governmental and non-governmental institutions, tourists and private individuals forming their clientele. He added they would begin offering accommodation in December once the cottages are completed.

“Our challenge is somehow positive in that Bomet has more potential to grow compared with Kericho and neighbouring towns with better infrastructure. The room for growth is an opportunity for us in Bomet to become pace setters,” said Mr Korir.

His sentiments were echoed by the owner of Brevan Hotel, Mr Benjamin Mitei, who said his greatest advantage was building the hotel just as devolution was being rolled out.

However, occupancy in the 73-room venture at times fall to zero due to the seasonal nature of the business.
“Most months, occupancy is between 25 and 30 per cent. At times we have full bookings while at others we have nobody at all. It’s unpredictable but we are looking forward to better times,” said Mr Mitei.

According to the 2009 census, Bomet town has a population of 110,963. This is deemed inadequate to support a big supermarkets like Tuskys, Nakumatt or Naivas. These top brands typically set up shop in places where they can get about 200,000 clients a day, which Bomet can only achieve during major events like political rallies. Still, local investors have stepped in to fill the gap with five brands, namely Dana, Kipchimchim, Greenrose, Beulah and Radiant supermarkets.

There is great optimism that the growth of the university will attract more people and open more avenues for growth.

Mr Cheruiyot says developments in the next five years could be explosive, with the SGR and university being the main drivers. Investors in Bomet also anticipate more political support from the new county administration, which, he said, is friendlier to investors than its predecessor.

“My advice to anybody who wishes to venture into real estate in Bomet is that they start now and make do with modest profits for three years before the sector picks up fully in five years,” said the investor, who is planning to expand his Lenana Estate from the current 16 to 180 units by 2030.

It remains to be seen whether the late Kones’ dream of merging Bomet, Longisa and Silibwet towns will be achieved.

IN NUMBERS

40

The age of Bomet town

5

The number of banks in Bomet

110,963

THE POPULATION OF BOMET, ACCORDING TO THE 2009 CENSUS

Town now striving to realise its potential, one step at a time

Bomet county has great potential to grow. It was hived off Kericho District and made a separate district in 1995, when former minister Kipkalya Kones, now deceased, was the region’s kingpin. But the town itself has a 40-year history.
When Daniel Arap Moi came to power in 1978, Bomet was just getting established and what made it visible was the establishment of Kapkoros Tea Factory, the first major development in the region that also brought in electricity, jobs and others goodies.

Later, Mr Moi built Moi Siongiroi Girls School in Chepalungu, when Bomet town was still unspoilt. But when electricity was tapped from Kapkoros to the school and passed through the town, it jumpstarted businesses, although not to the expected levels.

Then, Bomet comprised three streets: Kipchamba Street where the landmark Koma Plaza was built in 1992; the stretch where Cooperative Bank of Kenya now stands, and the largely entertainment stretch that leads to the stadium.

Several apartments and commercial buildings are coming up, with the few business centres like Koma and Imarisha making a killing because they are monopolies.

Notably, Tenwek Hospital is building a branch in Bomet, just next to the newly put up private Siloam Hospital, whose main branch is in Kericho.