Naivasha golf resort faces auction over Sh1.2bn debt

Auctioneers have put up huge swathes of land and property where the multi-billion shilling Aberdare Hills Golf Resort was set to be built in Naivasha by deceased tycoon Pritam Singh Panesar over failure by the billionaire’s establishment to settle a bank loan of Sh1.2 billion.

Panesar, a real estate tycoon who sought to build Kenya’s first USGA Championship 18-hole golf course in the Naivasha development, died in Nairobi in 2018.

The planned estate also included in its plans a park, hotel and residential houses, with its fate mirroring that of numerous real estate projects that have hit headwinds in what is proving to be a lean period for the sector.

In a newspaper notice published Monday, Garam Investment Auctioneers advertised the sale of the estate comprising the proposed golf resort, show houses and maisonettes sitting on 832.7 acres in Naivasha next Thursday.

“Under instructions received from the chargee’s advocate, we shall sell by public auction the under mentioned property on Thursday, February 20, outside the main post office in Naivasha town,” Garam said.

“All these parcels of land known as L. R. numbers 425/56 off Nairobi-Nakuru road are registered in the name of Pritam Singh Panesar g/t Panda Development Company.”

Business Daily has learned that Mr Panesar had borrowed against the property. The arrears to a local bank stand at Sh1.2 billion, sources said.

Prior to his death, he had planned the development to offer access to key tourist attractions in the region such as Hell’s Gate National Park, Lake Naivasha and Mt Longonot.

The development was set on 1,700 acres out of which only 30 percent was to be built on while the rest would be left for wild animals, birds and forest, making it an ideal destination for tourists.

The development site is on a high plateau to the north of Naivasha town, with the Malewa River on its north-west boundary.

The prices of homes was set to range from Sh18 million to Sh40 million depending on the house size and the footprint of the land.