Frequently Asked Questions
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Tatu City is a visionary, mixed-income, mixed-use residential and commercial development.
- Tatu City is currently the largest private investment in urban infrastructure in Kenya’s history.
- A vision for a well-planned world-class urban solution for working and living.
- A socially integrated, secure and accessible city that will add value to the Kenyan economy and create jobs.
- Sustainable, efficient, eco-friendly and affordable, Tatu City offers a harmonious living environment for this generation, and generations to come.
- One of the first privately funded and developed cities of the 21st Century, with world-class infrastructure and public service standards, where all Kenyans can own a home.
- When fully developed, Tatu City will be home to an estimated 70,000 residents and will attract 30,000 day visitors.
- Tatu City will have 11 different land uses, with residential use accounting for 60% of the expected land use. The balance will be allocated for offices, retail, including a destination mall, hospitality, schools, hospitals and other community facilities.
- Residential neighbourhoods will accommodate residents and visitors from a range of income groups, family sizes and lifestyles, with affordable and upscale housing options.
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Tatu City’s development is different from the building of a mall or office blocks in that it offers a comprehensive urban solution which will ease congestion and overcrowding rather than add to it.
It aims to provide a holistic living environment, as opposed to just a shopping experience or a residential facility where people go home to spend the night. The size of the project enables us to think about all aspects of the life of the future, respect for nature and our needs for parks, pedestrian areas to interact socially, with a vibrant cultural life combined with business accessibility and family time. |
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TATU City is located 15 kilometres North-East of the Nairobi CBD at the Junction of the Northern and Eastern by-pass of the national road network. It is 2 kilometres from Ruiru Town, and once the current road projects from Nairobi are finalized, will be a pleasant 15 minute drive from the city. |
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The land on which Tatu City will be built was once a coffee farm called Tatu. The name has been retained to preserve this coffee farming heritage. The design and the name of Tatu come from the ethos and fusion of three (tatu) holistic issues: Mind, body and spirit (live, work and play). |
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We are working towards and have achieved:
- Final agreements with infrastructure partners, property marketing partners, lending institutions (providing both mortgage and corporate financing to the project) and the launch of the new Tatu City Tree Nursery.
- We broke ground on the development of infrastructure and simultaneously began Phase 1A of the project, Tatu City Central, in April 2012. The Marketing of Phase 1 has commenced. The first developers will gain access to their sites in Q4 2012, and the first citizens will take occupation in Q4 2013.
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Tatu City is 100% owned by Tatu City Limited, who as the master planner owns the land. Our objective is to develop the infrastructure system (roads, water, energy, social amenities, communication and sewerage), then increasingly pass off the ownership to the developers. Developers will build up the parcels of land they bought (e.g. as residential, recreational, or commercial facilities) and sell individual plots to individual buyers, who will hold rights through a sub-lease. The full lease of this property will in turn be held by various property owners who will form a Property Owner Association (POA). |
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Tatu City is 100% owned by Tatu City Limited (TCL), the project master planners. TCL’s role will be to create an infrastructural base (roads, water, energy, communications, sewerage and social amenities). |
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Tatu City will be completed in 10 phases, some of which could be developed simultaneously as demand requires. Typical of this project type, further funding flow will be required and the timing and magnitude of these flows will be determined on a phase by phase basis. Through the phased development, revenue realized as each stage is released to the market to fund the future stages |
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The 1000 hectares of land from Socfinaf Ltd in July 2008. The farm had been in the company’s ownership for over 60 years, and was operated as a coffee plantation.
No one was displaced, as there were no squatters on the farm and none of its employees lived on the farm. |
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There is no risk to the property rights of investors. We ran a due diligence check on the farm’s title to ensure that our investment is secure. The farm has been in the ownership of one company for over fifty years, and there has been no controversy, or change of ownership during this period. We could not launch ourselves into such a venture without being 100% sure. |
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Tatu City Ltd is committed to working with public authorities in achieving the development vision. The Kenyan public sector has a lot to contribute in the design of such a city. The development will therefore coordinate and integrate public as well as private actions and knowledge in order to deliver sustainable systems of service delivery at Tatu City.
It is important though that a development of this scale does not overburden public services and infrastructure, so technological solutions are being investigated to ensure an ecologically sensitive and sustainable development are realised. |
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It is important that a development of this scale does not overburden public services and infrastructure, so technological solutions are being implemented to ensure ecologically sensitive and sustainable development throughout the development’s lifespan. Service provision will be of international standards. In addition, on-going urban management will be integral to the development, so any problems will be immediately identified and rectified. In this respect, a comprehensive urban monitoring system will be established. |
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Extremely positive. Throughout the global financial crisis, African real estate is one of the few assets classes which did not depreciated but in fact kept growing. Real estate has a bright outlook in the short term; pressure on Nairobi’s road network will continue to drive land prices near major arterial roads outside of Nairobi. Medium term, more new developers will emerge to make up for the demand as it becomes apparent that there are good margins to be made in the industry. Long term – more institutions will make mortgages available at lucrative rates and add-ons and will see one or two more large initiatives like Tatu come to the fore.
Mortgage penetration in Kenya remains very low compared to other economies at a similar stage of development. More than half of Kenya’s population is under the age of 25, and this forms the core of new home owners. The expansion of infrastructure and political and economic reforms are expected to continue stimulating robust growth in the medium and long-term. The Banking market also continues to be one of the most lucrative and fastest growing in Africa. |
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Upon completion, Tatu City will need 152MW, 12% of Kenya’s current output. The power will be supplied by Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and Tatu City will be a bulk buyer. We are in the process of applying to the Electricity Regulatory Council for a distribution license. KPLC has adequate capacity at the moment and several new power generating projects are in the pipeline. In addition Tatu City will deploy several green initiatives like solar water heating, low voltage street lighting in line with international environmental standards. |
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It is important that a development of this scale does not overburden public services and infrastructure, so technological solutions are being investigated to ensure ecologically sensitive and sustainable development throughout the development’s life span. Service provision will be of international standards. In addition, on-going urban management will be integral to the development so any problems will be immediately identified and rectified. In this respect, a comprehensive urban monitoring system will be established. |
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You can simply no longer create the kind of environment we are looking at in Nairobi today, except maybe in Muthaiga. But we want Tatu City to be for all Kenyans. Moreover, the development of Tatu City as an interconnected satellite city is a development concept that now applied the world over. |
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A Property Owners Association (POA), to which property owners will be obligated to belong, will be established. The POA will be responsible for the sound governance and urban management at Tatu City. It will have primary responsibility for promoting and sustaining the vision of Tatu City as a desirable area in which to invest, live, work and visit; ensuring that Tatu City is safe, secure, well managed and provides a quality public environment for the benefit of all; and monitoring developments and service delivery to ensure compliance with the structure plan and service level standards. In the process the highest standards of good corporate governance will be adhered to.
In fact, this model is very forward looking. Each owner will be in charge of respecting the sound environment of Tatu City, and as a member of the Property Owners Association, will have a direct voice and a guarantee to be heard, notably concerning the quality of service received by the management subsidiary. |
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As mentioned earlier, Tatu City is a mega-infrastructure project. It is also one of the flagship projects under the Vision 2030. Although primarily driven by the private sector, national and local authorities (and the soon-to-be-established county governments) have a crucial role to play e.g. provision of electricity, roads, water and sewerage etcetera. Also, a project of this magnitude requires multiple approvals. However, key approvals have already been approved e.g. approvals by NEMA, Ruiru Municipality. |
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The developers of Tatu City have decided that they will preserve the coffee-growing heritage of Tatu City. The environment planning and design of the City takes this into account. As construction work progresses, Tatu will be transplanting coffee trees to other parts of the site. By using a new, higher-yield coffee variety, coffee production will increase. |
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There are currently 86 workers on Tatu City's land, most of whom are casual labourers. The current number of workers on Tatu’s land number fewer than 300 people, most of whom are not permanent. The economics of the two land usages are not in the same order of magnitude, as Tatu City will create more than 300,000 temporary and permanent jobs through construction, the new retail offerings and other commercial activities, integration of large Research and Development complexes and more conventional tourism and destination points. |
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