NSSF to set up Sh6 billion conference centre in city

The National Social Security Fund will build a multi-purpose convention centre on its plot on Kenyatta Avenue opposite Nyayo House that is set to rival the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

This will enable it to tap into earnings from conference tourism in the segment of meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE). The high-end luxury hotel property will also incorporate rental apartments.

Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) prides itself as the premier meeting place in Kenya and among the best in the region. It has in recent years attracted many international conferences, earning billions of shillings after it was reclaimed from the former ruling party, Kanu, which had annexed it.

NSSF has also floated a tender for the construction of a 36-storey skyscraper envisaged to be the tallest in the region, although it had stalled following a tendering dispute. The Sh6 billion structure is planned to be the completion of the Hazina Trade Centre, currently hosting Nakumatt Lifestyle, Nairobi.

Last week, NSSF chairman Adan Mohamed said the workers’ pension fund would invest in strategic high yielding projects that include those to be initiated by the government through public-private partnership like bridges, railways, and electricity generation.

He said the fund would approach the Treasury and other financial institutions with the objective of raising an infrastructure bond. Mr Mohamed said with Sh110 billion, the fund would play a greater role in the country’s development.

The announcement came as it emerged that NSSF had shelved plans to sell its prime properties advertised last year which include Hazina Trade Centre and View Park Towers — located in Nairobi’s central business district. The government is reportedly interested in buying the buildings to accommodate some officials in the coming devolved government.

“It was found not prudent to sell such prime properties and in any case if that was to happen, the government would be given the first priority,” said a source not authorised to speak for NSSF.

The two buildings, located near the Uhuru Highway-University Way roundabout, according to valuers have a combined value of over Sh4 billion.

The fund had last year invited tenders from prospective buyers for three assets that include an undeveloped plot next to the Israeli embassy in Nairobi’s Upper Hill area. Although the identity of the bidders was not disclosed, sources in the organisation said those who had offered had knock-down prices leading to change of intention.

The fund described the property as measuring 203,000 square feet for View Park Towers and 95,000 square feet for Hazina Trade Centre.

The undeveloped plot is estimated at 1.993 acres. The government re-advertised the property in May last year but the response from potential buyers was not good enough.

NSSF managing trustee Tom Odongo had argued that the sale was demanded by the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA), with the objective of reducing the property portfolio of the fund to the required 30 per cent.

The fund’s property portfolio stood at 36 per cent at the time and the sale would have enabled it to scale down to 29 per cent.

Mr Odongo said the fund’s capitalisation had appreciated with the good performance of Nairobi Securities Exchange in 2012. By the end of 2011, NSSF had 39 per cent in fixed assets, which is way above the RBA requirement of 30 per cent.

“Ours is a balancing act. The equities market has been going up, therefore increasing our stocks proportionately,” said Mr Odongo in an earlier interview.