The Kenyatta family’s ambitious Northlands City is taking shape years after the project was commissioned. The Shs500 billion project has necessitated the government to expand the Eastern Bypass that connects Mombasa to Thika road in anticipation of heavy traffic. Northlands City will have a mixture of low-to-high income residential areas, schools, agriculture zone, commercial space, an industrial area and a central business district sitting on 11,576 acre parcel of land. 

Strategic Environmental Assessment

The land will be developed in a period of fifty-years cast in four phases. A Strategic Environmental Assessment carried out on the city plan reveals that the city will have a population of 250,000-people. 

Part of the assessment reads:

“……. the proposed development will ultimately house a population of 250,000 people. It is projected that this population will generate up to 30,000 vehicles per day on to Eastern Bypass and 27,000 vehicles per day on Thika Road.”

This Project Opens Up Ruiru East & kamakis area as it brings the expansion of the Eastern by pass road into a dual carriage way. The plots around this area have expereinced exponetial growth in price value and settlement. Companies like Best Link Developers selling an 1/8th acre plot from Kshs. 850,000 have projected an increase of 60% in price of their plots in the next 2-3 years

The mixed-use development will be put into the following uses:

Northlands Industrial Park

The city will additionally host an industrial park that will sit on 695 acres . A logistics park will be set up in 650 acres of the land and the rest  set aside for Brookside Dairies. According to a progress report on Northlands City, land set aside for industrial development is being sold at Ksh 40,000,000 per acre after investors injected funds to develop infrastructure in the planned city. 

This saw a project to connect residents to water, internet, electricity, sewer, perimeter wall, and roads construction initiated in October 2018.

Residential Housing and the CBD

Northlands City has set aside 3,570 acres for residential housing broken into three categories – low, medium, and high-density residential housing each taking 3134 acres, 130 acres, and 306 acres respectively. According to the plan, the city will also have a business district located near the Thika superhighway and Kenyatta University. According to the submitted report, “The low density housing segment will have 601 villas and 1,320 town houses while the medium density area is reserved for 670 townhouses and 368 housing units in blocks of flats. A total of 6,980 units on block of flats and some 3,100 townhouses have been planned for the high density residential housing area.”

Wildlife Conservancy and Recreation

A total of 1697 acres have been set aside for an open recreational space with 266 acres of it set for water features. This will offer residents a means to enjoy their stay in the city. Moreover, a wildlife conservancy will be set up in the city occupying a total of 5156 acres. The master plan further shows that 33 acres of the land have been set aside for either a hotel or shopping mall and 2 acres earmarked for a clubhouse.