Building of houses starts in Nairobi's upgrade project

Nairobi County government has begun the construction of 200,000 low-cost housing units in the city as part of the county’s urban regeneration programme.

Governor Mike Sonko said the programme, which is part of his administration’s input towards President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda especially on affordable housing, will see at least 70 per cent of the houses go for Sh3 million or less.

This is in line with a partnership between the county and developers where every project will have at least 70 per cent of its housing units being sold for between Sh1 million and Sh3 million to Nairobi residents.

EXPENSIVE UNITS

Mr Sonko said the county government has already embarked on the first phase of the plan that will have between 10,000 and 12,000 housing units when complete.

Housing minister Charles Kerich in August this year said Pangani will be the first estate to benefit from the project. Others are Old and New Ngara, Ngong Road Estate Phase I, Ngong Road Estate Phase II, Uhuru Estate, Suna Road Estate and Jeevanjee Estate.

“We are negotiating a 70:30 ratio with developers, where every project must have at least 70 per cent of houses under Sh3 million. The developers can then build more expensive units occupying 30 per cent of the project," said Mr Sonko on Monday.

He added: “We have already called for expressions of interest for Phase Two, and other phases will follow immediately thereafter. In total, we plan to deliver about 200,000 units as Nairobi County government."

The governor was speaking during the second Urban Dialogue on delivering affordable housing organised by the World Bank at Radisson Blue Hotel in Nairobi.

The event was attended by Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, World Bank Country Director Carlos Jaramillo, UN Habitat Deputy Executive Director Victor Kisob, Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui, his Kitui counterpart Chairty Ngilu, among other guests.

LAND CHALLENGE

Mr Sonko said his administration will create a conducive environment to accommodate half of the units planned by the government, hailing the national government’s plan to construct half a million units in the country.

The City Hall boss, however, said his administration is facing challenges in the construction of the houses where a number of parcels of land earmarked for the project are on flight path such as Moi Air Base and Wilson Airport.

He said this challenge has led to some of the housing projects being reduced from planned 30-storey to 14-storey buildings.

Consequently, the governor has appealed to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority to call a meeting with City Hall, the Department of Defence (DoD) and Transport ministry to clearly map out the flight paths so as to solve these challenges. “This will allow us to build taller buildings in areas outside this path. We have already engaged DoD on this and they are positive in finding a workable solution,” said Mr Sonko.

At the same time, the governor has announced that his administration has embarked on a masterplan that will see the upgrading of several slums in the city.

Among the informal settlements earmarked for upgrade include Mukuru and Mji wa Huruma slums. “Mukuru has already been declared a Special Planning Area, which will allow the county government to provide the much-needed infrastructure for the residents,” he said.