•The company claims there has not been enough government collaboration with private sector to achieve affordable housing programme.
•Zeyun Yang said his company has not received enough support from the state but has aggressive invested in developing more affordable units
President Uhuru Kenyatta's affordable housing programme risk failure if private sector players are not incentivised enough to produce more cheap houses, a real estate firm has said.
Erdemann properties-known for quick mass construction of house units-said the state has not done enough in supporting private developers investing in the housing sector despite its ambition to construct 500,000 low-cost housing units by 2022.
The government want to 7,000 units ready by the year 2021.
The company's Managing director Zeyun Yang told the Star his entity has taken advantage of the government's drive to address the housing crisis in the country by building mass quality house units, especially in Athi River area of Machakos county.
However, he said, his initiative is impeded by less government support and also systemic bottlenecks.
"We continue to wait for incentives from the government but as for now, we are patient," he said, adding that the incentives will make it even more affordable to buy houses and homes.
"Once the incentives come, we will review our prices even downwards. We look forward to government incentives like tax rebates, creating a better conducive environment for the affordable housing," he said.
Asked how different his entity was from other real estate companies whose products have been out of reach of many people, Yang said they have been deliberately targeting lower middle class people by affordable prices "to feed into the president's timely ambition."
"We sell our houses at about KShs. 30,000 - KShs. 40,000 per square metre which is less than the set target of KShs. 50,000 per square metre set by the National government. [With this, people] have a chance of owning a 3-bedroom master en-suite house for between Sh2.9 million and Sh4 million maximum depending on the time they book and pay in Athi River," he said.
Yang said their business model fits perfectly into the government's ambition because it "develops decent housing that are affordable' and targets Nairobi metropolis where the population is ever bulging.
"Our Vision is to see a Kenya where every family is in a position to own or rent a decent a decent house and our mission is to provide decent and affordable housing for the low and middle income earners," he said.
The company has constructed two-phased housing projects in the area, with over 4,600 units and successfully handed over more than 4,000 units to home-buy owners.
The company's development manager John Rajwayi said that were its third face not stopped by a court injunction, its constructions would have been completed in July next year and opened its doors to other home owners.
"GWG 3 started in July 2019 and was scheduled for completion in July 2020. The structure works was at 50% as at the time of stoppage," he explained.
The construction was halted after London Distillers which neighbors it petitioned NEMA,claiming that the real estate company was polluting river Athi by emitting effluents into it. The case has not been determined.
"This stoppage has sounds like an harassment because its not based on any facts. It is very unfair to home owners who have paid up because their dream to own their houses and stop paying rent has been frustrate," Rajwayi said.
Joseph Barasa, the company's communication manager said need to do more in supporting the sector players so that they incur less costs in the cost of the materials to ensure the cost of the decent units are within reach of those who want to own homes.
"As we said, we look forward to more deliberate effort by the National government and County government to boost our efforts in the provision of affordable housing," he said during the interview.
Affordable housing is par of Uhuru's big four agenda and he hopes to achieve this by reducing the cost of mortgages, raising low-cost funds in both private and public for investment in large scale house construction and cutting the cost of construction by use of innovative ways and materials.