By DAVID MUGUNYU
Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome has announced that the government is implementing flagship development projects worth Sh10 billion in Nyandarua County.
The projects include affordable housing units, modern markets and education infrastructure.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony and handover of the construction site for Nyandarua University at Captain Township along the Ol Kalou-Gilgil Highway on Monday, June 22, 2026, Wahome said the university project will cost Sh1.3 billion.
She said the institution will sit on 91 acres of land, with 41 acres donated by Salient Secondary School and 50 acres provided by the Nyandarua County Government.
“To me, the 91 acres is a strong take-off for the university since the minimum requirement is 80 acres,” she said.
Wahome noted that Salient Secondary School will benefit from the construction of 30 new classrooms to compensate for those that will be taken over by the university.
The project also includes the construction of 20 university classrooms and a hostel with a capacity of 1,300 students.
She assured residents that construction would proceed without interruption because funding for the project has already been secured in the national budget.
The CS said affordable housing projects and hostels in educational institutions are being financed through the Affordable Housing Levy approved by Parliament.
“Under the affordable housing programme, we are constructing institutional hostels for police officers, prison officers, secondary schools, TVET institutions and universities,” she said, in an apparent response to critics of the housing programme.
Wahome added that the government is currently constructing 500 markets and 600,000 housing units across the country.
“These are projects that critics of the government will not be able to abolish under any circumstances,” she said.
The CS praised former Ol Kalou MP David Kiaraho and Nyandarua Woman Representative Faith Gitau for their efforts in securing land for the university.
She revealed that all legal processes had been completed and that title deeds for the land were issued last week.
Gitau, who accompanied the CS, said the university would motivate secondary school students by providing them with a higher learning institution within the county to consider when applying for university placement.
Former Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria said Nyandarua had long been marginalised in terms of higher education, noting that it was the only county in the Mt Kenya region without a university.
“Is there anything within the DNA of Nyandarua people that made previous administrations believe they were incompatible with having a university?” Kuria posed.
Apart from launching the university project, Wahome also inspected the affordable housing project in Ol Kalou Town, the construction of hostels at Ol Kalou TVET in Rurii Town, and a modern market under construction in Ndaragwa Town, Mirangine Constituency.
