Governor Mike Sonko on Monday promised to construct 200,000 housing units in Nairobi, a plan by his administration to input towards President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda.
Nairobi County Government has already embarked on Phase One of its urban regeneration programme that targets between 10,000 and 12,000 housing units.
Speaking on Monday during the second Urban Dialogue on delivering affordable housing at a Nairobi hotel, the Governor hailed the national government’s plan to construct half a million housing units in the country.
He stated that there was a need to create a conducive environment to accommodate half of the units planned by the government in Nairobi.
“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,” Sonko stated.
The Nairobi Governor further noted that the houses will be constructed and sold between Ksh1-3 million per unit.
"We are negotiating a 70:30 ratio with developers, where every project must have at least 70 per cent houses under 3 million Shillings. The developers can then build more expensive units on 30 per cent of the project," the Nairobi County boss remarked.
Sonko also admitted that his administration was facing challenges in the construction of the houses.
He further stated that 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.
Sonko also indicated that several slums in the city, among them the larger Mukuru slums and Mji wa Huruma slums, would be upgraded.
