The Governor for Laikipia County in Kenya, Ndiritu Muriithi, has announced the government’s plan to construct 2,000 affordable house units in Nanyuki, Nyahururu, Rumuriti, Wiyumiririe and other major towns in the county at a cost of US $400m.
Governor Muriithi made the announcement after signing an agreement with officials from the National Housing Corporation who will be overseeing the being of the project. He noted that the county has already identified land for the project and construction shall begin immediately with the first set of the project anticipated to be ready for occupation by the end of the year.
Affordable housing units
Upon completion, the Governor said that low-cost units from the project shall be going at a cost of US $20,000 while middle class house units shall be available at a cost of between US $50, 000 and US $70, 000. The first batch will be ready for occupation by the end of the year.
He added that his government has had talks with several financial institutions including Sacco’s, asking them to provide mortgage services to enable those who are looking to purchase the houses to do so.
Speaking after the meeting, National Housing Cooperation (NHC) Managing Director Andrew Saisi also commented on the up take and said that the corporation will establish quality houses that shall be available to potential house owners at competitive prices.
“NHC has been on the lead in making the Big Four agenda, whose objective is to develop 10,000 housing units annually to address the huge housing shortage in Kenya, a reality.” said the M.D. adding that the cooperation, in recent past had developed various projects in partnership with the precursor local governments in the county. The projects include over 1,000 housing units developed in Laikipia and others in Nanyuki, Rumuruti, Ng’arua and Nyahururu.
“We will utilize our internal capacity and forge partnerships with the national and county governments to mobilize assets on the road to delivery of housing for low and middle-income earners,” concluded Saisi.
