A premier luxurious-low cost housing project financed by a Chinese company in Kenya’s Kiambu County was launched by the government.
The Samara Housing Project, of which the China Building Technology Group Kenya (CBTG) is the contractor and financier, is expected to deliver close to 2,000 housing units and a mall at the Migaa Golf Course.
In attendance for the project’s commissioning ceremony were Housing and Urban Development Principal Secretary Charles Hinga and other senior government officials, CBTG CEO Tom Kimani Zeng and other local private developers.
Hinga thanked the Chinese company for its promise to help the government meet its pledge to deliver affordable housing to its citizens while praising other stakeholders for coming on board to do the same.
“Samara Estate is a reflection of what affordable housing is all about. The Programme offers the government and private developers an opportunity to join efforts and expertise in a venture that must meet the dream of a typical Kenyan. I believe strongly that owning a home equates to owning a piece of the country’s economy,” Hinga said.
Bishop Mark Kariuki of Tushia Global Holdings, on his part, reaffirmed the private sector’s resolve in ensuring community development through strengthening Private Public Partnerships (PPPs) with the national and county governments.
“Indeed, the typical Kenya no longer wants to rent or lease for a time.But, as this crisis continues to show us, owning a home is for the long run the most deliberate investment,” Kariuki said.
Zeng expressed his confidence in completing the entire project, whose houses consist of two and three-bedroom units, in a record time.
“Samara, it is a very good project, we envisage that we will deliver the entire apartments and mall in three years, the development is without doubt unparalleled in the residential market thus far,” Zeng said.
The CBTG’s involvement in the housing project serves to underline the commitment of China, one of Kenya’s main trading and development partners, to actively participate in Kenya’s social development.
Under Kenya’s Big Four Agenda, President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to construct 500,000 affordable housing units for Kenyans by 2022 as one of the deliverables from his flagship projects. The AHP involves a number of incentives and supports to enable the delivery of affordable housing in Kenya.
