The Behaviour of Land Prices During the Road Planning and Development along (Greater) Eastern Bypass

Abstract

Planning of roads triggers increase in land prices; however, it is construction of roads that causes an upshot of land prices. The study aims at analyzing the trend in land prices from the period the roads were planned, designed and constructed. Data on land prices for the period between 2008 and 2018 was collected from land enterprises through use of structured questionnaires and triangulated with data from land transactions. The change in prices of land was studied before, during and after road construction was done. A steady increase in land prices was observed along Eastern Bypass which was constructed compared to Greater Eastern Bypass and Link Road which had been planned but not developed. The increase in land prices observed along (Greater) Eastern Bypass before the construction of the roads was associated with land speculation. However, one year after completion of construction work on Eastern Bypass, land prices for plot along the 250m buffered doubled and a further 20% in the following year. The national and county governments in Kenya have not explored opportunities of capturing the increasing in land value arising from construction of public infrastructure which can be used in provision of basic infrastructures that will promote land development.