Kitui County unveils Sh6bn affordable housing project

Kitui County on Monday rolled out an ambitious Sh6 billion housing programme to provide modern and affordable shelter for local residents.

The housing programme makes Kitui the next county after Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa city counties to begin the building of 2,000 units of modern houses.

The two housing projects situated in Manyenyoni and Kalawa estates, both within Kitui town, will be built under a public-private partnership.

Governor Charity Ngilu’s administration provided two parcels of land and signed a memorandum of understanding with two real estate developers as part of her manifesto to deliver decent housing for Kitui residents.

Under the deal, the developer will mobilise funding to build the houses for sale while the county government will get a share of the units, equivalent to the value of the land.

Speaking on Monday when he presided over the ground-breaking ceremony, ODM party leader Raila Odinga said the Kitui housing programme should be an eye opener to the rest of the counties.

Rural-urban migration

Mr Odinga said that, over the years, rural-urban migration has created a huge demand for houses across all towns in Kenya and it is time counties took practical initiatives to deal with the challenge.

“The mushrooming of slums in major towns is a result of failure to provide affordable housing as a way of addressing rural-urban migration,” said Mr Odinga.

He said he supports Governor Ngilu’s housing programme because it is in line with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda.

“People will continue migrating to urban centres in search of opportunities and, over the last few years, the demand for housing [has been] outstripping supply. There is an opportunity for all counties to emulate what Kitui is doing,” said Mr Odinga.

Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga said Kitui is a pioneer in implementing the affordable housing agenda and that other counties will need to benchmark with it on how to deliver modern houses.

Mr Alex Kieme, the managing director of Keiwa Group which is building the 1,300 housing units at Manyenyoni, said 70 per cent of the entire investment will be spent in Kitui through sourcing of raw materials, labour and other sub-contracts.

“This housing project is about buying everything from Kitui to build Kitui. We’ll source all available building materials from within the county so that we boost the local economy,” said Mr Kieme.

Employ local youths

He explained that the project will employ 300 unskilled local youths and will spend more than Sh6 million every month on wages and salaries. The county will get revenue from the use of local materials and service charge once the project is completed.

“We’ve arranged a tenant financing scheme with financial institutions for those interested in buying the houses through mortgages,” he said, adding that the project consists of one, two and three bedroom apartments and separate three and four bedroom maisonettes with the price ranging from Sh1.65 million.

Governor Ngilu announced that the housing projects will come with added windfall for the local jobless youths who will be employed as casuals. They will also have a chance to supply building materials since it will utilise the locally available resources.

To satisfy the expected demand for labour and materials, the county government is already in the process of training youths on production of various building materials.

“This development will be a gated community, with all necessary amenities including ample parking, children’s play area, kindergarten and a shopping centre.” Mrs Ngilu said, adding that it will be the best place in Kitui to live in.

Competitively sourced

The governor said the developers were competitively sourced after the county assembly of Kitui approved the housing policy, in line with her five pillar manifesto which includes empowering the youth and women and creating wealth.

The Kalawa road project, which will consist of 680 units, is being undertaken in partnership with Technofin Kenya Limited while the Manyenyoni project is being done by Keiwa Group and will consist of 1,300 units.

Kitui is emerging as a growing industrial hub boosted by its close proximity to Nairobi City, and with the completion of the Kitui-Kibwezi road connecting it to Mombasa, the town is set to enjoy booming business and growth.

The county also hosts the newly approved Export Processing Zone, where the Kitui County Textile Centre (Kicotec) is located, with many other projects lined up according to Governor Ngilu.

Kitui also hosts several institutions among them South Eastern Kenya University (Seku), Kitui Teachers Training College and a Kenya Forest Research Institute regional research centre, among others.

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