Public participation
The national government will construct a total of 330 housing units in Samburu County under the affordable housing program.
Speaking in Maralal today during the public participation for affordable housing regulations 2024, Samburu County Director for Housing Caesar Murage said that the affordable units will be constructed in Samburu west, North and Samburu East Sub counties.
“We have already identified land on which 110 units will be constructed in each sub county to enable Samburu residents to access affordable homes within a short period of time.
Additionally, a modern market will also be constructed in each sub county.” he said.
Jesse Kihoro who lead the affordable housing regulations 2024 taskforce assured the participants that the land on which the projects will stand belongs to the government and has been transferred to the housing department through legal means which involved both the county government and the county assembly.
Kihoro further interpreted various regulations to the keen participants ranging from the application process, eligibility for allocation, loan interest and administration fee, change to an upper- or lower-unit value among others.
The participants welcomed the government’s housing project and recommended that during construction the contractor should source materials locally and hire locals for both skilled and unskilled labor works.
“One major concern is how local business owners will benefit from this government project and how much skilled and unskilled labour will be sourced locally to ensure real economic impact is felt,” observed Ebrahim Mwangi.
Samburu county Commissioner John Cheruiyot said that the affordable housing project is a key pillar in the Bottoms Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) and it aims to create jobs in the informal sector and reduce poverty.
“This project in Samburu proves that the government is delivering its mandate of providing 250,000 housing units annually while targeting to grow the number of mortgages with favorable ownership terms that have monthly payments of as low as Sh 5,000.” he said.
The forum was attended by various heads of departments from the national and county government, religious leaders, civil society, elders among other stakeholders.