I don’t blame them, the riots finally drove them away.
By DAVID HERBLING
Posted Monday, September 19 2016 at 20:23
The French government has put up for sale its ambassador’s residence located in Kibera, Nairobi, in a transaction that could fetch an estimated Sh500 million. Paris is selling the five-bedroom ambassadorial maisonette sitting on a plot measuring 4.90 acres on Nairobi’s Kabarnet Close, off Ngong Road. The French embassy in Nairobi said the asset sale is part of a strategy to centralise the ambassador’s residence and embassy in one location.
“We are selling the property because the embassy is moving. We are willing to gather all services together — residence included,” the diplomatic mission told the Business Daily. The French embassy in Nairobi is currently located in Barclays Plaza on Loita Street.
Relocation to a new property is expected to be complete in the first half of 2017. Paris also has a consulate in the Kenyan seaside city of Mombasa. The embassy declined to reveal the expected proceeds from the asset sale.
“We don’t expect to raise money, just to sell a property that we don’t use any more, at a normal price,” the French embassy said.
In 2014, Paris began constructing the new French diplomatic hub along Peponi Gardens Road in Westlands, on a property the European country previously owned. The new facility dubbed ‘Campus Diplomatique Francais Nairobi’ contains the ambassador’s residence, embassy, French Guards, and staff quarters.
“All the embassy’s services will move to Peponi road during the course of next year on a property that has belonged to France for a while,” said the embassy adding that the land is on freehold and belongs to France.
Land on the flanks of Ngong Road could cost between Sh50 million and Sh100 million an acre, going by past transactions. The National Land Commission in 2014 paid out Sh215.03 million to compulsorily acquire a 4.914-acre plot located within Karen Estate along Ngong Road belonging to billionaire businessman Stanley Munga Githunguri.
