Red tape stalls State housing project

An ambitious government project to build a million housing units by 2022 has hit a snag.

The State Department of Housing and Urban Development said yesterday the plan was unlikely to be realised within the set timelines due to financial constraints and red tape.

Housing Principal Secretary Aidah Munano said during an interview that the ministry had set out to put up 200,000 units annually, but so far, it was nowhere near realising that target.

“As a whole, we planned to construct 200,000 units for social purposes and 800,000 affordable units, but we are facing some challenges to that end,” said Ms Munano.

She explained that the construction was to be undertaken through a public-private-partnership (PPP) arrangement.

Pending bills

However, the project, which according to figures from the Department of Housing was to cost Sh2.3 trillion, has been given a wide berth by private developers due to lack of facilitation by the Government.

This is especially in the areas of land acquisition and failure to put in place necessary legislation, with several bills proposing incentives to potential investors still pending in the National Assembly.

Investors are also wary of the many bureaucratic bottlenecks involved in the construction business. “Most of the land is held by county governments. There are a lot of regulations surrounding land acquisition held by counties for construction of state projects. Treasury is also supposed to chip in with some financing, which has yet to come,” said Munano.

However, the PS said the Government had made some interventions, including the reduction of corporate tax and scrapping of some levies.