National Housing introduces new building technology

Last Updated 15 years ago by Kenya Engineer

State owned National Housing Corporation has invited tender for the construction of four factories to manufacture housing panels to be used in the construction of low-cost houses. The panels will be made of insulating materials such as concrete or cement sandwiched between two wood skins. The panels will replace the standard brick and mortar construction and will reduce the period of time required to build a house and the cost of the construction materials.

The first factory will be constructed at Mavoko outside Nairobi, followed by a second in Mombasa and the other two in Western Kenya. Kenya’s annual demand for houses is estimated at 150,000 units, whereas the market can only supply  20,000 units  leaving a shortfall of 120,000 units. The shortage has been most acute in the lower and middle sections of the market.  Real estate developers maintain that the shortage can only be reduced by using prefabricated housing and this will require an amendment to the building by-laws.

The intention of the National Housing Corporation (NHC) is to roll out more than 15,000 unit   in partnership with landowners and financiers   ItNHC recently signed a deal with Sahal Construction to put up 4,000 units in Mavoko area at an estimated cost of Sh12 billion It will be Kenya’s single largest housing scheme that promises to bring to the market the cost of a two bedroom unit at Sh2.75 million compared with an average market price of Sh5 million. Mahan Industries Ltd of Iran will provide funding and NHC will provide land and technical personnel. NHC and Mahan Industries will form a joint venture committee to oversee construction.

To overcome the hurdle of sourcing cheap land for low cost housing projects, NHC has come up with equity partnership arrangements for landowners. Individuals with large tracts of land near towns but have little financial resources to develop them can partner with NHC in return for equity stakes in the projects.