The government of Kenya has secured a commitment from China and Qatar to construct over 300,000 affordable housing units in Kenya as part of the government’s Big Four Agenda spearheaded by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
James Macharia, Transport, and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary confirmed the reports and said that the Chinese multinational will construct 100,000 units while two Qatari firms will construct 200,000 units.
“The government is in talks with the investors and the investment will go a long way towards achieving the Big Four Agenda on housing which aims to construct 500,000 affordable houses across the country by 2022,” said Mr. Macharia.
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Big four Agenda
According to the Big four agenda plan, the housing units will be divided into a social housing costing a maximum of US $6,000, a bedsitter housing plan costing a maximum of US $8000, a 2-bedroomed for US $10,000 and a 3-bedroomed for US $20,000. Currently, due to financing regulatory hurdles, 50,000 units out of the 250,000 demanded housing units are being developed annually. The project according to Macharia will dependent heavily on domestic resources mobilization.
Additionally the Cabinet Secretary held talks with with Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and the country’s Transport and Communications minister Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti on ways to improve cooperation between the two countries.
Cs Macharia also urged Chinese investors to dedicate more resources to Africa when he attended the Beijing Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing. “We will continue working with China together with our neighbors to implement seamless infrastructure projects that will improve the lives of our people,” added the Minister.
