President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday signed the Supplementary Appropriation Bill No. 2 of 2018 that listed revised spending plans, giving the State Department of Housing and Urban Development KSh. 21 billion of the approved KSh. 47 billion to kick-off the affordable housing programme.
Following the president’s approval, the Department of Housing can now access the funds immediately.
The programmed is especially designed to benefit low-income categories of earners, where these with salaries exceeding KSh. 100,000 are supposed to have the ability to afford houses at market rates. Their contributions of 3 per cent will be refunded after 15 years.
Attention now shifts to the State Department Housing, who are responsible for seeing out the programme. At a recent round table with the private sector, Housing PS Charles Hinga gave the revenue projections in a presentation that also indicated the starting prices for a studio apartment at KSh. 600,000 while the price of three-bedroom apartments has been capped at KSh. 3 million.
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Other than employee contributions, the National Housing Development Fund intends to raise funds from other lenders including commercial banks and other financial institutions in the private sector. At a recent conference, infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said that Kenya requires Sh. 3.2 trillion to construct 1 million houses, a feat which would be impossible without private sector involvement.
Kenyans will buy the homes through mortgages provided by the State-owned financier, Kenya Mortgage Refinancing Company. The demand for housing is projected to increase to nearly 300,000 units a year by 2050, according to Housing PS, Charles Hinga.
The Supplementary Appropriation bill also saw some cuts from initially planned expenditure such as the subsidised cooking gas programme and a Sh. 323 million cut for the presidency.
Source; The Standard
