Tilisi Opens Gateway for Low Cost Warehousing

Tilisi developments has become one of the first developers in Kenya to provide plug-and-play plots for companies needing warehouses, with infrastructure now under construction that will cut building costs radically.

With almost two-thirds of Kenyan producers and retailers reporting warehousing shortages, and many looking at options to extend their own space, most report they do not have the space to add further warehousing on their own sites. But the development costs of green field sites are also proving prohibitive, leaving producers struggling to stop wastage and losses, and expand output.

“This roadblock in producers expanding their storage is now materially slowing down the growth of our manufacturing take-off as a nation,” said Tilisi Co-CEO Kavit Shah.

Currently, a green-field land structure requires developers to work with up to 11 types of engineers and consultants to achieve a finished warehouse: across quantity surveyors, power engineers, water engineers, road and civil engineers, landscaping consultants, cost consultants, urban planners, traffic consultants, environmental consultants, structural engineers, and legal specialists.

The cost for companies of connecting a greenfield industrial site to electricity averages around Sh10m to Sh15m, to get the transmission lines extended, and a further Sh6m to Sh8m for an industrial transformer, according to Kenya Power.

“Our aim with the Tilisi warehousing park is to provide everything around the warehousing plots to enable high-speed building without the need to detail design the area around the land, look at storm water drainage sewage, water or electricity connections etc as these will be all done by Tilisi,” said Tilisi co-CEO Ranee Nanji.

The infrastructure, which is now under construction, with more than half of the 90-acre logistics park plots sold, is part of a master-planned construction that includes street lighting, security fencing and cameras, pre-installed internet connections, and footpaths. Per acre, the developers say the infrastructure is costing Sh14m. It will be complete by July 2018.

The site, which is set at the inter-junction of Nairobi’s northern and southern bypasses, will also have its own petrol filling station.

“Our mission from the outset was to make a perfect environment for businesses simply to buy a plot and put up their new warehouse,” said Kavit Shah.