Prime
Why land along Jinja Road is turning into a gold mine
Areas along along the Jinja Highway like Kireka and Bweyogerere are more popular residential areas Photo By Jonathan Adengo
What you need to know:
Land along suburbs on Jinja Road (the route leading to the eastern side of the country) is much more popular than land on other routes. Many factors, like transport rate and easy access to the city centre explain this.
Simon Waiswa has his home in Seeta along Jinja Road. But his biggest regret has been building along a commercial route because this road is characteristic of endless traffic jams especially during rush hours.
Even with the knowledge about the endless traffic along this road, the scramble for Jinja Road is phenomenal compared to other roads going upcountry which informs the high costs of the same size of land at the same distance from the city centre compared to say Hoima Road, Bombo Road and Masaka Road.
So what is it about areas along Jinja road like Bweyogerere, Namugongo, Seeta and Mukono that attracts home owners much more than, say Buloba on Hoima Road?
Keeping with the crowd
The customer care manager of Jomayi Group of Companies which owns estates along all these roads, Leticia Balaba, says that Ugandans are plagued with a tendency to make homes where most people seem to be staying in spite of the fact that the same plot might be cheaper at the same distance from the city centre.
She says; “Ugandans love to stay where there are other people, the reason they will choose places like Namugongo and Kyaliwajjala yet a road like Masaka has less traffic congestion and is cheaper. However that is slowly changing.”
Accessibility to the city centre
Balaba also thinks that much as the distances of Mpigi and Mukono may be almost the same from the city centre, transport to Mukono is not only cheaper but easier to access.
“Because that highway has more traffic, it’s easy to get transport to town,” she explains.
Currently transport to Mpigi is Shs2500 and the taxis can only be accessed inside the taxi parks while besides the taxi park option, it’s easy to simply find and hop into a taxi going to Mukono anywhere along Jinja Road at as little as Shs1,000 after a bargain outside the rush hour.
Reminder of home
In their wisdom, people from eastern Uganda strongly prefer to stay along the connecting route (Jinja Road) to their upcountry homes to avoid going through the city after a long upcountry trip.
And this is not mere speculation, Vincent Kafeero the Administrative Director of Hossana Real Estates which has three estates (Mbalala, Namataba and Seeta) along the road, their clientele from the East have a healthy interest in buying along Jinja Road as opposed to other roads.
“While the Banyankole, Batooro and other tribes might not be very particular about buying along the roads leading to their upcountry homes; -they can even buy in Mukono,- the Basoga, Bagisu, Japadholas have a strong preference for Jinja Road,” Kafeero says.
Fred Katende, a real estate dealer based in Nakawa has also found this tendency to be true among easterners.
“For some reason, clients hailing from the East want land and to make their homes along Jinja Road,” Katende says, adding that “It is hard to find Basoga buying along Mityana Road but there are very many of them in places like Bweyogerere.”
Commercial route with readily accessible amenities
Kafeero also thinks the commercial developments along Jinja Road, industries like Coca cola, Pepsi cola and the upcoming industrial park in Namanve could be responsible for the demand and thus the high property prices along this route.
“People want areas which are developed and because of the industries along this road, the access roads to the Jinja Road have always been well-planned and in fairly good condition with amenities like electricity and water readily available and accessible,” he observes.
Secondly, because people prefer staying near where they work, Katende explains, those with offices along Jinja Road would rather make their homes in Bweyogerere, Seeta and Mukono.
He adds that people planning to put up rentals also prefer areas where their houses will yield maximum returns (high rent costs) and be fully occupied all year round, the reason they would rather invest/buy along say, Jinja Road as compared to other roads.
But well, some of these reasons are no longer that much applicable like accessible electricity when it comes to other roads. So if you’re simply looking to build affordably and you’re not an easterner who has strong inclinations towards Jinja Road, then you can consider other roads because land is cheaper, saving you some money to start on your house.
