The National Treasury has approved the University of Nairobi’s plan to construct new student hostels with a total capacity of 4,000 beds under a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement.
According to the PPP Directorate at the Treasury, “The feasibility study for the project was completed in October 2024. The feasibility study report was approved in February 2025, and the project was granted approval to progress to the procurement of a private party.”
The project will follow the design, build, finance, operate, and transfer (DBFOT) model over a 30-year period. Under this arrangement, the selected private investor will oversee the entire process—from design and financing to construction and management—before eventually handing over the facility to the University.
A project blueprint reveals that the new hostels will be spread across UoN’s main campus and its two medical school campuses. The main campus will host a 2,000-bed facility, while Chiromo and Kenyatta Medical campuses will each receive hostels with 1,000-bed capacities.
The initiative, dubbed the UoN Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) project, is being spearheaded in collaboration with the Private Infrastructure Development Group Limited (PIDG Ltd), an infrastructure financier supported by six governments including the UK and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank. Crisil Limited is leading the consortium serving as the transaction adviser.
Currently, UoN operates 9,863 hostel beds across its eight campuses. Of these, 5,386 beds are allocated to male students, 3,346 to female students, and 1,131 are designated as mixed-use. Bed occupancy at three campuses, including the two medical schools—Chiromo and Kenyatta Medical—is already at full capacity.
“The proposed project is, therefore, expected to enhance UoN’s student accommodation capacity with an additional 4,000 beds, 50 percent of which will be made available for the exclusive use of medical students thus contributing to the critical area of medical education and the associated healthcare sector,” said the Treasury and PIDG in a project brief.
They added that the main campus was chosen for the largest phase of the development due to its central location and available land for expansion.
The demand for university accommodation continues to outstrip supply. Treasury and PIDG noted, “Post 2020, the growth rate in university enrolment is forecasted at 6.5 percent per annum. In addition, it is estimated that the countrywide demand for PBSA beds is approximately 600,000 while the supply is an estimated 280,000 beds, thus an unmet need in the order 320,000 beds.”
The UoN hostel project is expected to ease pressure on student housing and improve the learning environment, especially for medical trainees who require proximity to clinical training sites.