Affordable Housing: Three Foreign Companies Commit to Put Up 300,000 Units in Kenya

President Kenyatta's affordable housing project has received a major boost after three foreign companies pledged to construct 300,000 units.

Two Qatari companies committed to putting up 200,000 housing units while a Chinese multinational will build 100,000 houses.

The deal for the construction of the cheap houses was secured by Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia during his tour to Qatar and China.

“Discussions with the Qatari investors are progressing. This will go a long way towards achieving the Big Four Agenda target of building 500,000 affordable homes across the country,” said Macharia.

During the visit, CS Macharia held talks Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, and Transport and Communications minister Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti.

In China, Macharia attended the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing.

Early this year, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPOS) committed Sh1 billion to help Kenya construct 100,000 low-cost housing units.

Unops Executive Director Grete Faremo said the money was a seed funding aimed at wooing other development partners to chip into the project. 

He said the agency and its partners were seeking to raise Sh65 billion to fund the construction of the housing units.

Under the government project, housing units will be categorized into social, low-cost and mortgage gap to fit into each income group.

Social housing units will be sold to Kenyans earning up to Sh14, 999, while low-cost houses will be for those earning between Sh15,000 and 49,999. Mortgage gap will be for the group with an income of between Sh50,000-99,999.

Under the social housing category, one-bedroom houses will be sold at Sh600, 000, Sh1 million for two-bedroom while a three-bedroom unit will go for Sh1.4 million.