The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has revived plans to develop about 1,000 acres of its land in Mavoko, Machakos County, into a proposed mixed-use city. The project involves a feasibility study, master plan, infrastructure and pilot-phase development through an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing arrangement. NSSF’s tender documents identify the project as the proposed NSSF Mavoko City.
The latest proposal represents another attempt to unlock the large landholding for urban development after earlier NSSF plans for housing on the property failed to progress.
What NSSF is proposing
NSSF’s request for proposals covers the preparation of a feasibility study and master plan, development of infrastructure and implementation of a pilot phase for the proposed city. The project is therefore still fundamentally a planned development, rather than a completed city or an established urban center.
Business Daily reported that NSSF’s tender seeks an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Finance partner to help take the project through its development stages. The fund has said the procurement process will help determine the eventual cost and scope of the venture. While the 1,000-acre figure gives the proposal considerable scale, the final design, financing arrangements, development phases and timetable will depend on the planning and feasibility process.
What could be developed
According to the tender information reported by Business Daily, development options could cover residential, commercial, light industrial, institutional, specialized warehousing and hospitality uses, among other specialized uses.Kenyans.co.ke has also reported that the proposal is designed to combine residential, commercial, industrial and hospitality spaces within one connected development.
These should, however, be understood as proposed development options, rather than facilities that have already been approved and constructed. The project’s location in Mavoko also gives the proposal significance beyond the NSSF property.
Mavoko forms part of the wider Nairobi metropolitan growth area, making large developments in the sub-county relevant to housing, commercial activity, transport and infrastructure planning. Any eventual economic impact will depend on whether the project progresses beyond planning and how the final development is designed and financed.
However, NSSF’s latest proposal is not its first attempt to develop the Mavoko property. A government housing document previously identified an NSSF Mavoko project covering approximately 1,000 acres, with a proposal for 30,000 housing units. Business Daily reports that NSSF first proposed developing 30,000 housing units on the land in 2012 under a joint venture with private developers but the plan was cancelled in 2013.
In 2015, NSSF revived the property with a proposal for 60,000 low-cost houses, also through a joint venture arrangement. That plan later stalled amid opposition from trade unions over the procurement process and questions about the financing arrangement.
The latest proposal therefore faces a familiar test: whether plans for the large Mavoko landholding can finally move from the proposal stage to actual implementation.
What happens next
The immediate focus is the NSSF procurement and planning process. The feasibility study and master plan will be important in determining what can realistically be developed, what infrastructure will be required and how the project could be delivered.
For Mavoko residents and businesses, several questions will be worth watching:
- What will the final master plan look like?
- What will the first phase contain?
- How much will the development cost?
- How will it be financed?
- What infrastructure will be required?
- When could physical development begin?
- What opportunities could eventually emerge for local businesses and residents?
Those answers will determine whether the latest Mavoko City proposal becomes a major urban development or, like previous plans for the property, remains largely on paper. For Machakos County, the proposal is significant not simply because of its 1,000-acre scale, but because of what a development of that size could eventually mean for the future growth of Mavoko.
For now, however, the clearest fact is this: NSSF has revived plans for a proposed Mavoko City, but the project remains dependent on the planning, procurement, financing and implementation stages that lie ahead.
Editor’s Note
This article is based on publicly available NSSF tender information, government documentation and reporting by established media organizations. County Guardian did not conduct an on-site visit for this report. Proposed facilities, economic opportunities and future impacts are presented as potential outcomes and should not be interpreted as completed developments.
