NAIROBI, Kenya – The University of Nairobi (UoN) has secured the green light from the National Treasury to develop 4,000 student hostel beds under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), in a bold move to address the university’s chronic accommodation shortage.
The Sh6 billion project will be executed under a 30-year Design, Build, Finance, Operate, and Transfer (DBFOT) model, where a private investor will construct, finance, and manage the hostels before transferring ownership back to the university.
The expansion plan includes a 2,000-bed hostel at the Main Campus and two additional 1,000-bed hostels at the Chiromo and Kenyatta Medical campuses.
UoN currently accommodates only about 21% of its student population, with just 9,863 beds across eight campuses. The rest are forced to seek often costly and inconvenient off-campus housing.
The project is supported by the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), with a consortium led by Crisil Limited serving as the transaction advisor.
The initiative aligns with Kenya’s broader strategy to bridge the 320,000-bed gap in student housing across public universities.
It is expected to significantly enhance student welfare, academic performance, and university infrastructure standards.
By tapping into the PPP model, UoN joins a growing number of institutions embracing innovative financing to expand access to higher education facilities while reducing the burden on public coffers.
