Thomas & Piron opens Nairobi office with eye on mega projects

Thomas & Piron Grands Lacs, the Rwandan unit of Belgian construction firm Thomas & Piron is expanding to Kenya in a bid to tap into the country’s construction boom.

Piron Coralie, the firm’s chief executive was this week quoted by local media as saying: “We are expanding to Uganda and Kenya; we took the decision last year and all of this year we’ve been working on it and we hope to start activities next year.”

Ms Coralie said Thomas & Piron Grands Lacs seeks to enter the Kenyan market as a developer and a contractor.

“We are planning to develop and construct our own projects in various parts of Kenya,” said Ms Coralie, adding that her company seeks to enter Uganda through public tenders.

The company plans to spend €1 million (Sh135 million) in equity and partner work with Kenyan lenders to finance its projects in the real estate sector.

Kenya, whose population is about 40 million, has an attractive construction sector with an annual demand of about 200,000 housing units against a supply of 35,000 units a year.

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