Uhuru's housing project panacea to city's housing deficiency, says PS

Inadequate housing in Nairobi will soon be a forgotten problem when President Uhuru Kenyatta's affordable housing project is fully rolled out.

Housing principal secretary Charles Hinga on Tuesday touted the project as the panacea to the acute housing deficiency the city grapples with.

This problem, along with poor or non-existent drainage and sanitation, will be sorted out, Hinga said. 

The bulk of the houses being constructed by the government are in Nairobi and its satellite towns. The construction of 1,370 affordable houses is underway in Park Road estate, Pangani.

The next grounding breaking ceremonies will be in Shauri Moyo and Starehe, Hinga said.

"This project is real and it's moving quite fast, ahead of schedule. It is not just boardroom talk," he said after he conducted Fijian Prime minister Frank Bainimarama around the Park Road construction site.

He said young people are engaged in the project and entrepreneurs are also benefiting.

"Here [Park road] alone, we have engaged over 650 youths. All the materials being used are also sourced locally," he said. 

Hinga said Nairobi has borne the brunt of rural-urban migration.

Some 1,200 units are being built in Kiambu and over 8,000 in Lukenya, Machakos county to reduce the housing pressure in the city.

"It is estimated that by 2050, 70 per cent of the global population will live in urban areas. In our country, 50 per cent will be in urban areas. This project is a timely intervention," Hinga said. 

"Urbanisation has posed a major challenge in terms of housing deficiency. This is a universal problem that every country is struggling to solve." 

He disclosed that 224,578 Kenyans have registered for the project, dismissing the naysayers as wasting time.

Some 2,800 new homeowners will be unveiled this September, the PS said.

However, only those who have signed up will get houses despite the mandatory contribution, he reiterated.

The government and labour organisations like Cotu and Federation of Kenya Employers have locked horns over the implementation of the 1.5 per cent housing levy from both employed Kenyans and employers. The matter is in court.

The allocation of houses will be through balloting to randomly assign a registered individual a house.

Hinga said the government of Fiji intends to replicate the Kenyan model to house its people.

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