Commercial hubs are set to be constructed around railway stations in Kenya at a whopping cost of US$ 2.1bn. The commercial hubs will be constructed around railway stations in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
The commercial hubs will comprise of office complexes, hotels, shopping malls, industrial parks and arcades on the land surrounding railway stations and the Kenyan government has already commissioned studies to determine the most effective investment option for the mega development projects.
This construction comes at a time when Kenya in conjunction with other countries is setting up the US$ 3.2bn standard gauge railway which is planned for completion mid-next year.
Commercial hubs around railway stations in Kenya are aimed at linking the railway cities from the Coast to Nairobi and further to the lakeside region.
According to an inter-governmental panel consisting of ministries of Transport together with Land and Housing, construction will entail a mix of joint ventures, franchises and build operate transfer (BOT). The BOT arrangement is where several companies put in cash in a project and function for some time to earn expenditure and make a profit, before handing it over to the government.
“The task will be developed through build operate transfer, franchises and joint ventures under land lease and is estimated to cost US$ 2.1bn,” says the intergovernmental team.
Apart from constructing the commercial hubs, the project will also involve the upgrade of railway stations and construction of direct rail links with major airports in the three local cities. It will sit on approximately 400 acres of land in the three cities including Voi town. The government expects to earn about US$1m in annual land lease fees.
Nairobi’s railway station is scheduled to host a shopping mall, restaurants, a manufacturing park and two hotels with a capacity of 3,000 people while the coastal city of Mombasa will host an international trade centre, office blocks, a shopping mall and two hotels.; this is according to earlier designs by Kenya Railways in charge of project implementation.
