National Housing Corporation Managing Director David Mathu has called for a collaborative effort between different government agencies towards realisation of the Affordable Housing Programme.
Speaking in Mombasa during the third Kenya Affordable Housing conference, Mathu noted that State agencies like the Kenya Construction Authority, National Environment Management Authority and Kenya Bureau of Standards need to give support to guarantee quality houses.
“There needs to be a nexus between different government agencies to ensure the houses being built are of quality and fall within the set regulations,” he said.
Mathu noted that even if the government unlocks the funding for the projects, it will take a combined effort of different players from government and private sector to ensure the houses are delivered on time, are of quality standards and cost effective.
“Once we attract the green funding, who ensures the projects are delivered on time and are of quality as per the paper designs? That is the role of other players; the contractors. How are we selecting and building the capacity of the contractors who are developing these AHP units?” Mathu posed.
He insisted on the need to build the capacity of the developers who are the principal players in the timely delivery of the projects across the county.
"If we have all the money, are we sure we have contractors who will deliver these units in time at the end of the 2027/28 financial year? Do we have contractors who can deliver? The role of capacity building is very important,” he added.
Addressing the delegates and participants drawn from the building and housing sectors, the managing director noted that the Corporation is working with several partners in private, public and county governments to realise government’s agenda of delivering a million housing units.
“NHC is at the heart of delivering the affordable housing projects. Through the Corporation, the government is partnering with county governments to realise AHPs,” he said.
Mathu noted that early this year, about Sh1 billion was committed towards a pilot programme to see how the affordable housing programme between the county and national government could work and to establish what the processes of transferring land from the county to national government entails.
The managing director noted that NHC is reworking its designs to ensure the cost of affordable housing units fall within the set guidelines of about Sh33,000 per square metre even as he noted that the current pricing is about Sh47,000 per square metre.
"As NHC, we are rethinking the designs and materials to reduce the cost per square metre to Sh40,000," he said.
The cost for pilot housing programmes in Homa Bay, Embu, Kirinyaga and Nyandarua is Sh47,000 per metre.
