Kisumu low-income earners not left out

Low-income earners in Kisumu will benefit from affordable houses whose construction is scheduled to begin this month.

The pre-engineered houses, the brainchild of Kisumu Real Estates (KRE), are expected to cost just about half what they would cost if built using mortar and concrete, and will target the lower middle class.

A house built using the structurally insulated panels (SIP) technology needs less than a month to put together, at half the normal cost. The property develop ris  also looking to embrace use of interlocking bricks, which has been successfully used in Brazil,

India and closer home, in South Africa, to cut costs in an effort to make houses more affordable.

KRE director Wycliffe Abok said the company had early last year assembled a model three-bedroom unit at Otonglo area on the outskirts of  the town as a pilot project ahead of the construction of 250 units at Obambo, some 12 kilometres away from the

CBD on the Kisumu-Bondo Road.

According to KRE, using the technology is part of the effort  to bridge the housing gap, which has been occasioned by high bank rates on loans and mortgages, as well as the high cost of land in the town, factors which have made building low-cost housing a challenge.

The structural insulated panels (SIPs) comprise ready built partitions which are just assembled on site and can be done by people with simple training.

The technology, which has been used in a few projects in Nairobi, makes use of building material made of panels sandwiched around a foam core of polystyrene and consist of an insulating layer of rigid core sandwiched between two layers of structural board.

They are normally used as a substitute to traditional materials in the construction of walls, roofs, staircases and floors and are sandwiched between a galvanized steel wire mesh that is plastered on both sides with concrete during construction.

KRE is partnering with the county in the ambitious Kisumu Urban plan to upgrade the town’s informal settlements. The technology will be used in Obunga to phase out the corrugated iron shacks and maximize land use by putting up high-rise buildings.

It is a form of prefabricated units popular with Housing Finance initiatives in Kiambu, Nairobi and recently adopted in Homa Bay County.

Mr Abok said the local people’s negative perception of the technology has hindered the adoption of the alternative technology, which could alleviate the acute housing shortage in the town at relatively low costs.

“A three-bedroom house takes between three and four weeks to put up and can cost as little as Sh1.5 million, compared with Sh3 million for alternative technology of similar quality. The SIPs system, for instance, lasts up to 90 years and does not crack,” he said.

COLLABORATION WITH COUNTY GOVERNMENT

He said KRE would work in collaboration with the county government to ensure that those the lower income cadre from infiltration by those in higher segments in special areas.

Infiltration by those in the upper segment has been blamed for challenged construction of affordable houses.

If adopted, the system will cut costs in meeting housing demand that has outstripped supply in Kisumu. Nationally, there is an annual shortfall of 200,000 housing units.

The project coincides with Sh4 billion Kisumu Upgrade Plan (KUP) project whose implementation has kicked off. The project seeks to address the housing crisis through a series of strategic development plans which include densification of the current slum settlements, zoning, and restructuring of the city.

The informal settlements are responsible for more than 90 per cent of unplanned settlements in the town, according to KUP Plan.

Apprehension towards the technology has hampered its in Western Kenya.

This has, in turn, slowed home ownership in favour of rentals, which are more costly.