Principal Secretary (PS) State Department of Housing and Urban Development, Charles Hinga, has requested Kisii County Government to establish a partnership with the National Housing Corporation (NHC) and build affordable houses for residents.
Speaking during the inspection of ongoing projects within the Kisii Municipality, Hinga said NHC has a very progressive joint venture (JV) policy which states that the Corporation becomes the developer and provides investors once land is provided.
“If you look at Bondeni in Nakuru which is the model we are using, you are required to provide the land, we will advertise it and have over 300 investors to put up those houses. You do not sell the land to them and they also do not factor the cost of the land in the selling price of units,” Hinga expounded.
He noted that for the first time in the history of the Country, there is a single digit long term fixed interest rate regime set by the government to empower citizens to buy those houses.
Hinga said the State Department will look at the type of demographic in the locality to determine the price of the houses as they cannot assume the cost of housing in other places like Nairobi is similar to Kisii County.
“It is a single digit, meaning it’s less than ten per cent. It is fixed, meaning even if the interest rates go to thirty per cent, your interest rate will never go up and it is long tenure so we are giving up to twenty years for you to be able to pay,” said the PS.
He further pointed out that it is easier for citizens to get houses suitable for their pockets regardless of them working in offices or selling tomatoes in the market using the figured financing strategy by the government.
Kisii County Governor James Ongwae requested the Ministry of Housing to support the County with capacity in form of human resources, to also develop the transport system within the municipality.
By Augustine Mosioma
