Housing
The affordable housing project in Nyeri had to be temporarily stopped to allow the contractors to make adjustments to the construction design, Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome now says.
Ms Wahome said that the State Department for Housing and Urban Development had initially intended to put up 320 housing units at the Blue Valley site in Majengo. However, initial indications showed that the soil was not strong enough to hold the proposed number floors that were to be put up, necessitating the ministry to pull the contractor from the site.
Further consultations, the CS said led to the advice of revised building designs to accommodate more housing units. A spot check by KNA at Blue Valley last month revealed a deserted construction site largely laden with weeds. “We changed the design after awarding the contract and because of those changes, a delay occurred. We also had to revise the contract and revise the budget so as they proceed,” said the CS.
The CS was responding to questions that were fielded during the dissemination of the Fourth Medium Term Plan 2023-2024 (MTP IV) in Nyeri County on Monday. Hassan Kuche, a youth representative, had also sought answers about the status of the Blue Valley housing project in Majengo which stalled immediately after its launch by President William Ruto on February 16 this year.
Kuche had also sought the assurance that the 7,000 jobs promised to Nyeri youth as artisans in the construction project were still intact. “We will be getting the contractor back on site and I agree the jobs are many and they need to be taken up as quickly as possible,” said Ms Wahome.
While enumerating some of the infrastructure plans lined up by the MTP IV, the CS said that the government is planning to put up a total of 1 million affordable housing units by the year 2027. This translated to a minimum of 200,000 housing units annually.
Ms Wahome said that her ministry is undertaking the construction of 106,000 affordable housing units in the country. Out of these the construction of 53,000 has already commenced units while the procurement process for the remaining 53,000 was underway.