London, March 21, 2019 (AltAfrica)-Kenya’s Nairobi City has waived building approval fees for affordable housing projects as a move to attract more investors into the city as it gears to achieve President Uhuru’s Big 4 Agenda on affordable housing.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko said the move by his administration will pave way for the county and national government to start construction of housing units to meet the 200,000 set target in 4 years time.

“My cabinet has approved waiving of building fees for all housing projects in Nairobi as our commitment to support affordable housing programme. This applies to projects being undertaken by private investors, county and national government”, said the governor during a groundbreaking ceremony by Edermann Property in Ngara Estate where they seek to construct affordable houses.

Affordable housing

The affordable housing Programme aims to construct 500,000 housing units across the country by 2022. Nairobi will launch phase one of the affordable housing programme this year in estates such as New and Old Ngara, Jevanjee, Ngong Road, Pangani and Suna road. Phase two of the project will include Bondeni, Lumumba, Shauri Moyo, Bahati, Ziwani, Gorofani and Jericho. President Uhuru Kenyatta will soon launch the national government affordable housing programme on Park Road Estate, Nairobi.

READ ALSO: NIGERIA APPROVES N27.4BN FOR VICTIMS OF FLOODING, CONFLICTS

The governor further commended the move by private investors to construct affordable houses in Nairobi urging them to utilize local skills and local materials in their projects to promote the Kenyan economy.

Sonko added that they have developed Nairobi County Housing Bill in order to manage all county houses and also Nairobi County Staff Housing Bill which will help the county in developing houses for its workers.

Nairobi City County Sessional Paper Number 1 of 2018

Nairobi County Government recently passed Nairobi City County Sessional Paper Number 1 of 2018 as a guiding framework for housing projects in the city conducted by either the government or private investors.

“This policy will help us carry our housing agenda and we will require all developers to comply and follow the guidelines stipulated in the session paper. The policy states how housing units will be shared, how tenants can be relocated and how long projects should take, among others,” noted Governor Sonko. CRO