Affordable housing project offers jobs to Nyeri residents

Apart from the two daytime guards manning the entrance, Purity Nyawira and Evelyn Muthoni report at the Ruring’u affordable housing project construction site at 6am daily.

The two previously ran a food vending business on an on-and-off basis, before securing a contract to provide catering services at the construction site, when they began working at the project in September this year.

Nyawira says she serves the first meal of the day at 6.30am.

Their day ends at around 3pm after serving lunch to their customers.

To ensure their customers do not go out in search of alternative eateries, the duo agreed to set reasonable prices for their food.

The meals range from Sh60, while the most expensive meal goes for Sh100.

“We prepare our meals on demand. When we first came to the site they gave us a list of their preferred food options. The food is also reasonably priced so we are able to keep our customers happy and at the same time make profits,” Nyawira says.

She says securing the contract at the site has come with more advantages than challenges.

Nyawira says she would go for days without work before the opportunity came along.

The contract has given her some semblance of consistency.

“Our customers normally pay at the end of the week and even with that arrangement, I don’t think I would have made a similar amount of money out there. For the last three months I have been taking care of my children without undue pressure,” the mother of two says.

When Consolata Wanjiku first came to the Ruring’u construction site in October, she was only seeking an internship opportunity to help her gain work experience.

Wanjiku, a civil engineering graduate from the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Nyeri, did not anticipate the site manager would someday offer her a full-time job at the site.

She is one of the 150 skilled and semi-skilled workers at the site, where the government is in the process of constructing 478 housing units.

“I cannot complain because I am learning quite a number of things,” Wanjiku says.

“So far I have been engaged in different areas of construction from the foundation stage. We are currently constructing the pillars, where I am not only learning about concrete work, but also applying some of the knowledge I learned in school. I am hoping to learn more as we progress because the project has a lot to offer in terms of experience in the different stages of construction.”

It is easy to pick her out from her male colleagues.

She is one of the few women who have taken up jobs, previously dominated by men.

The 23-year-old is not afraid of getting her hands dirty as she joins her male contemporaries in applying mortar between bricks.

Wanjiku encourages the youth, especially girls, to rise beyond the stereotypes around working in the construction sector as there are a lot of opportunities and money.

“I would encourage other girls to take up job opportunities at the affordable housing project. There is a lot of experience to be gained. You will also earn an income and you will get challenged to do more,” she says.

John Mwangi is the site manager for Shyam General Merchants, the company the state contracted to put up the 478 housing units in Ruring’u at a cost of Sh1.45 billion.

His work is to ensure this herculean task is completed by February 2026.

Once complete, the complex will have studio, two bedroom and three-bedroom units and a school.

When KNA visited the site recently, construction workers were putting up column stutter castings before embarking on backfilling beginning next month.

Mwangi says the work is running as per schedule, despite the rains that had slowed down work temporarily.

“Work is on course and we hope to progress as we had planned. We are doing 478 housing units here and hope the work will not be interrupted by the rains, since we are employing the use of heavy machinery that can get bogged down in the mud. But in the absence of such eventualities, we believe we shall deliver these houses as scheduled in early 2026,” he says.

At Blue Valley, we meet Ronald Omolo, the project manager for Parklane Construction Limited that has been tasked with delivering 381 housing units by February 2026.

He is optimistic the vagaries of foul weather will not hinder the progress of the work further, having been forced to cut down on the number of his employees at the site to less than 100.

Omolo believes this number will rise to 200 by next year, once the construction moves to the first floor and work on the raft foundation is done.

“Here we are doing 38 housing units on three blocks. We had to do the foundation first, which involved excavation and laying down the raft foundation,” he explains.

“The entire foundation consumed 50 tonnes of D20 and D12 bars, which will comfortably withstand weights of up to 20 floors without a whimper.”

This project is earmarked to cost the government Sh877 million once complete.

Seth Amolo, the overall project engineer for Ruring’u and Blue Valley housing project says everything is moving as per the original plan.

He says the work has never stalled on the two projects to date, although he admits they had to cut down on the number of workers after it became impossible to progress faster due to the rains.

He says the two projects have brought a sense of camaraderie with the local community who make 80 per cent of their total workforce.

This is because the workers and the general staff at the site depend on the local food vendors for their  daily meals.

“So far, so good. We are doing 381 units at Blue Valley and have done the foundation for three blocks. We are finishing the columns for the construction and we expect by the end of December we shall have finished the ground floor,” Amolo explains.

“Currently, progress is at 13 per cent and we thank the contractor for doing a good job. At Ruring’u, we have four blocks with 478 units. They have also done the rough foundation and are now at the columns. The progress is a little slower than Blue Valley and is at around nine to 10 per cent.”

Amolo is optimistic the work is going to peak by January when the dry spell starts and additional workers are hired for the main lay-up of the construction.

The local community will also reap big since most of the materials such as cement, building stones, ballast and heavy equipment needed at the two sites have to be sourced locally.

“In both projects we have engaged more than 85 per cent of the personnel from the local community and only 20 per cent are the skilled workers we took from other regions such as engineers and supervisors,” he adds.

“The local people have also been providing food for these people daily and this has created a symbiotic relationship between us and residents.”

But Boniface Mbugua from the State Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises says there is much to be reaped from the housing projects besides what casual workers and food vendors are earning.

He says once the housing blocks have taken shape, it will be the turn for small entrepreneurs from the county to supply installations ranging from doors, windows, plumbing to electrical fittings.

Mbugua says his work is to rally up all the MSMEs operators in the county and advise them on how they can benefit from the two projects.

“Once this construction is complete, our micro, small and medium enterprises will benefit a lot,” he told KNA.

“It is a good initiative from the government and one which shows how serious the government is when it comes to empowering MSMEs.”

“The contractor must give specifications on what needs to be supplied and then we will hold a round table meeting with them to agree on the mode of payment. We need to negotiate to ensure they [MSMEs] get their dues not less than two weeks.”

They have already mapped at least 1,750 members in the sector.