Urithi in Sh800 million JKUAT hostels plan

MONEY MARKETS

Residential flats in Juja. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology has spurred growth of the town. PHOTO | FILE 

By SIMON CIURI
sted  Wednesday, September 2  2015 at  18:58

Urithi Housing Co-operative Society says it has kicked off the construction of 740 housing units in Juja, largely targeting students of the nearby Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

The project is expected to cost more than Sh800 million funded through members contributions and borrowing from financial services firm Unaitas.The co-operative society says it is seeking to tap the growing number of students in the area, including from other institutions of higher learning and retail chains’ employees.

“We will also be targeting people who want to buy the bedsitters and let them to individuals and students studying at the nearby institutions,” Urithi Housing chairman Samuel Maina told the Business Daily.

“A lot of private institutions and supermarkets have already made or plan to come to Juja town and these are some of the developments we are following keenly given they will come with demand for housing.”

Dubbed “Own a Room Project,” the venture is set to be completed in one year. Members who cannot afford to pay a down payment of Sh400,000 will be financed by the Unaitas Sacco. The payment period is one year.

“Apart from setting up bedsitters we will also use part of the ground floor to set up commercial shops to generate revenue that will help fund our next investments instead of relying more on borrowing from the lenders,” said Mr Maina.

Urithi Housing started the ‘bedsitter’ fractional sale concept sometime back, selling each unit for Sh495,000 and targeting young and unmarried individuals.

With the growing appetite for the concept, it increased the price to Sh650,000 and eventually Sh850,000 citing property demand, especially in areas where there are many universities and colleges.

The society has for long relied on borrowing from Unaitas, K-Rep and Equity Bank to finance its investments. Recently, it announced it would be diversifying into investing in education under Urithi Group of Schools.

Urithi was established three years ago and has offices in Nairobi, Nakuru, Gilgil, Mombasa and Eldoret. It has 10,000 members.