Naivasha residents will benefit from 2,400 affordable houses courtesy of a joint partnership between the county government of Nakuru, World Bank and the United Kingdom.
The Naivasha Housing Project (NAHP) is said to target workers earning between Sh15,000 and Sh150,000 and is expected to start next year.
The announcement comes as the area governor Lee Kinyanjui said that the county had repossessed 55 acres of grabbed land near Naivasha slaughterhouse where the houses will be put up.
According to the Governor, Nakuru was among counties that were in urgent need of affordable houses adding that they would make sure that the targeted group benefited.
He noted that with the SGR, Inland Container Deport and an increase in flower farms in Naivasha, the demand for houses has continued to rise and hence the need for more affordable houses.
“There is need to address the issue of mushrooming of informal settlements as they affect planning and the Naivasha project will be a game changer,” said the governor.
Speaking at the Naivasha Deputy County Commissioner’s office when the main partners released the Request for Qualification (RFQ) for the capital project, Kinyajui said the pilot project will stem the emergence of slums adding that the county would fully back investors in the housing sector.
World Bank representative Simon Walley said that they expected the project to start within 12 months with several financials expressing interest adding that they have started the first step of Request for Qualification and that by December this year the partners will have published the list of the pre-qualified bidders for the project.
Walley observed that the project concept was noble as it will spur economic growth within Naivasha town and Nakuru County at large.
“Currently there are capital projects like SGR and the Dry port in Naivasha and the demand for houses will come in handy in the coming months,” he said.
The head of UKaid Julius Court said the affordable housing project will help address the country’s housing deficit that stood at 2million houses owing to the rising cases of rural-urban migration even as the housing demand continued to rise by 250,000 every year.
By Esther Mwangi and Brian Kamau
