Sonko pledges 200,000 low cost houses for city residents
Oct. 15, 2018, 3:00 pm
By MELANIE MWANGI @mwangimelanie
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has pledged to construct 200,000 affordable housing units that will cost between Sh1 to Sh3 million in the next five years.
Sonko said the project is in line with President Uhuru Kenyatta's Big Four Agenda.
He spoke on Monday during the second urban dialogue on delivering affordable housing in Nairobi.
Sonko said the county has already embarked on phase one of its urban regeneration programme that targets between 10,000 and 12,000 housing units.
“We have already called for expressions of interest for Phase Two, and other phases will follow immediately thereafter. In total, we plan to deliver about 200,000 units as Nairobi County Government,” he said.
Sonko also said he will upgrade several slums in the city.
Read; Uhuru's 500,000 decent, affordable housing project gains momentum
"We are negotiating a 70:30 ratio with developers, where every project must have at least 70 per cent houses under Sh3. The developers can then build more expensive units on 30 per cent of the project," he added.
Sonko, however, stated that his administration is facing challenges in the construction of the houses.
He said a number of parcels of land earmarked for the housing project are on the flight path of the Moi Air Base and Wilson Airport, leading to some of the housing projects
being reduced from 30 to 14-storey building.
He wants KCAA to map out the flight paths to increase efficiency in building the structures.
“I am appealing to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority to call a meeting with the Nairobi City County Government, the Department of Defence and Ministry of Transport to clearly map out the flight paths," he said.
"This will allow us to build taller buildings in areas outside this path."
Among the informal settlements earmarked for upgrading include the larger Mukuru slums and Mji wa Huruma slums.
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2018...dents_c1835180