Buruburu

 In the early ’80s, Buru Buru was an enviable middle-class estate in Nairobi, where many people wished to live, and those already living there were proud to be associated with.

LOCATION
Located in the midst of the ever-growing Eastland’s, Buru Buru gradually started going the way of most estates in the populous area, with haphazardly built extensions coming up every year. This also saw the once beautiful flower hedges replaced with concrete walls.

Built in the ’70s and ’80s, the estate was designed as a middle-income Commonwealth estate whose design was meant to be replicated in other Commonwealth countries in Africa. It was mostly inhabited by business people, government officials, professionals and a few expatriates on short-term assignments in the country. 

The estate was characterized by beautifully lined white maisonettes with orange brick tiles housed in sizable compounds designed in courts, with each compound having a low, neatly trimmed hedge. It was clean, serene and secure. 

infrstructure 
The plots' sizes in Buruburu vary from 6 to 10.5 meters in width, and 20 to 24 meters in length. This ratio of 1:3 to 1:4 falls under the guidelines and recommendations of Urbanization Primer.The estate consists of five phases. Each phase house an average of 943 dwellings that vary in scale from 2 to 4 bedrooms in each dwelling unit.

Burburu has a wide range of infrastructure, including medical institutions, banks, educational institutions, churches, a mall and a variety of shops. There are three main roads: Rabai Road, Jogoo Road and Mumias South Road. 

HOUSING
The value of the houses in Buru Buru, especially those that border roads, are falling. The rent for a three-bedroom main house was in the range of Sh40, 000 to Sh45, 000 in 2015. Today, you cannot rent out the same house for more than Sh30, 000

A three-bedroom main house that was going for Sh16 million two years ago, is now going for Sh14 million, and the value is still dropping.Some courts are so run down that there is no difference between them and those in some unplanned estate. Many of the houses need a facelift, but the owners do not care to refurbish them to maintain the decent look of the estate.

When it comes to renting out houses in Buru Buru, many are the instances where the landlord will get a percentage less in rent than was paid by the previous tenant.

BUS ROUTES
Main Matatu routes in buruburu estate are routes 58 and 23 operating along Rabai Road, Jogoo Road and Mumias South Road. Bus fare stands at 50 kshs at ordinary times and up to 60 kshs at extraordinary times (peak hours). Most notable Bus companies operating here are Kenya Bus Service (KBS), 2M or Double M; Citi Hoppa, buruburu 58 Sacco
 
SOCIAL AMENITIES

Markets in Buru Buru:
Jericho markets, Mtindwa, Mesora, Fairlane shopping complex, the new Quickmart supermarket, Tuskys supermarket, and Naivas supermarket, Pizza Inn.

Medical Centres
·         SOS Medical Centre
·         Jamaa medical hospital (maternity)
·         Meridian medical
·         Metropolitan hospital
·         Aga Khan
·         Mater
·         Avenue Health
Banks
·         Kenya Commercial Bank
·         Co-operative
·         K-rep, Equity
·         Stanbic
·         Chase Bank
·         NIC
·         Barclays have branches

Education Institutions

Primary schools
·         Bidii primary, Harambee Estate Primary, Rabai Road Primary, Shepherds Junior School, Wanja and Kim School, Thomas Burke Primary School, Happyland Primary School, River Road Primary, Buru Buru One Primary, SOS Primary School, and other small private schools.

Secondary
·         Buru Buru Girls, Npc Secondary School, Buru Buru High School, Apostolic Carmel Girls’ School
Colleges

·         East African school of Theology, IAT, Shepherds college, AUSI, Buru Buru Institute of Fine Arts, SOS Technical Institute, Unity College

 

DOWNFALL OF BURUBURU
The major negative changes in Buru Buru began when landlords started building extensions to their houses to rent out.

In the recent past, things have become increasingly bad, what with an upsurge of informal businesses, which have set up unsightly temporary structures on every available foot path near the main road, along routes within the estate and above drains.

They go as far as hanging their wares on the walls of people’s houses and even in front of businesses, institutions and churches in a chaotic manner.
Others display their wares along the footpaths near the main road at the shopping Centre, making it difficult for the large number of people using the footpaths to move. Heaps of garbage, noise and air pollution, not to mention the huge population comprising residents, hawkers and people in transit to the nearby Umoja estate, have changed the once peaceful and serene estate into a chaotic mess.

The roads are riddled with potholes, and the infrastructure is severely strained. The drainage system is clogged by garbage recklessly thrown by the hawkers, such that when it rains, the roads, and even some houses, get flooded.

The once beautifully lined maisonettes are no longer the estate’s defining characteristic, as residential and commercial extensions to the buildings, original main houses, have transformed it into a veritable concrete jungle, with very few of the houses maintaining their original look.