• The Nairobi Metropolitan Service has said plans for the construction of the Sh15 billion Mukuru Social Housing Project are complete.
• NMS director-general Mohammed Badi said the scheme will benefit residents hence must be affordable to them.
Image: FILE
Residents of Mukuru will pay Sh4,000 monthly over 10 to 15 years to own homes built under the government's social housing project.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Service has said plans for the construction of the Sh15 billion Mukuru Social Housing Project are complete.
NMS director-general Mohammed Badi said that the scheme will benefit residents hence must be affordable to them.
“If you take a survey in the current slums, the normal mabati structure they are paying between Sh3,000 and 5,000 monthly. Having residents take a mortgage of up to 15 years at a cost of Sh4,000 will be a good deal for them,” he said.
The Mukuru Social Housing Project was approved by the Cabinet in September last year. The government and private investors will jointly implement it.
President Uhuru Kenyatta said the project is part of his affordable housing programme under the Big Four agenda. However, it is not among the ongoing affordable housing projects outlined by Nairobi county government in seven city estates.
The estates involved in Phase One of the project include Pangani, Uhuru, Suna Road, Old Ngara, New Ngara, Jevanjee and Ngong Road Phases One and Two.
Badi said the government will provide construction materials and structural engineers while labour will be sourced from among the Mukuru residents.
“When new housing starts, Mukuru residents will use their own labour to build the affordable houses but material and supervision by government, they will build own homes,” he said.
Mukuru has been an area of focus by the Nairobi Metropolitan Service. Badi has made several impromptu visits there to inspect ongoing developments projects, which include the construction of the first tarmac road. Youths from the area were also hired for hand-packing construction of road base.
In August 2017, City Hall declared Mukuru a Special Planning Area, putting a stop to further development in the area for a two-year period until a Mukuru Integrated Development Plan is produced.
Badi noted that the President has a special interest in developing informal settlements.
“If you look at Nairobi's population a lot of people cannot afford decent houses, leave alone the basic needs, so most of them are dispersed between informal settlements and what we call disadvantaged areas,” he said.
Since NMS was established in March last year, it has drilled 193 boreholes across the city’s informal settlements.
In Mukuru, the team has also constructed the first tarmac road.
“Mukuru has never seen a road since Independence, that is why we had to start with the infrastructure of roads, water pipes, sewerage pipes and now we are providing electricity. We are slowly changing Mukuru to an estate,” Badi said.
The major-general noted that most estates along Jogoo road still have the colonial houses hence NMS's plan to upgrade 10 old estates in Phase Two of the Affordable Housing Programme in Nairobi.
Last week, NMS announced Phase Two of the affordable housing programme in 10 city estates which include Bahati, Maringo, Jericho, Lumumba, Bondeni, Ziwani, Embakasi, Califonia, Kariobangi North and Woodley.
The NMS has invited bids from investors who want to redevelop the estates. The plan aims to tackle urban decline, improve the quality of the environment, increase housing stock, promote proper land use and improve the life of residents.