Nairobi Railway City Team to Build 20,000 Low-Cost Homes

Several wealthy investors are expected to sign lucrative deals with the Kenyan government for the construction of 20,000 low-cost homes at the Nairobi Railway City.

Through the State Department for Housing and Urban Development, the government has invited prospective investors for joint venture partnerships in developing affordable homes.

This is part of the government’s highly ambitious goal of delivering 500,000 affordable housing units countrywide in the next five years.

“Through the Specially Permitted Procurement Procedure, the State Department for Housing and Urban Development wishes to invite investors for a joint venture to get into a strategic partnership in developing (20,000 units at the Nairobi Railway City),” the state department said in a public notice on Tuesday.

Under the terms of the deal, the government will release public land to the successful joint venture partners for the construction of homes that will be sold to civil servants, pension schemes, and the public.

“By availing land to the project at no cost, the government makes it possible for homeowners to purchase tastefully designed, decent, and adequate housing at costs of as low as Sh1 million in some of the most attractive locations,” the department said.

The joint venture partners will be considered to be strategic partners in the State-backed affordable housing programme – eligible for a raft of tax incentives that will help lower the cost of houses.

These benefits include corporate tax reductions of up to 15 per cent, fast-tracked project approvals, adoption of low-cost building technology, and VAT exemption on inputs.

The partners will also get the opportunity to market their houses to a consolidated database of more than 300,000 registered members of the Boma Yangu affordable housing portal.

RELATED: Work Begins on Much-Awaited Nairobi Railway City

Through the Finance Act 2019, the government provided VAT exemptions for all inputs in affordable housing development schemes as an additional measure to address the high cost of construction.

The government also extended lower tariffs for imported affordable housing inputs through the reduction of the imported declaration fee on certain goods and materials.

Prospective investors with “ready financing” have up to July 28, 2020, to submit their bids.

The invitation comes barely two months after the formation of the Railway City Development Authority (RCDA), a special-purpose vehicle for the development of the proposed city.

The Nairobi Railway City is part of the Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Plan that will be implemented on a 425-acre piece of land stretching from Haile Selassie Avenue, Uhuru Highway, Bunyala Road, Commercial Street and Landhies Road.

The project includes the construction of commercial developments including office towers and residential flats as well as a new railway station that allows for the integration of high-capacity bus transportation.

The Kenyan government is also seeking for joint venture partners to build another 13,336 housing units in various towns across the country under the affordable housing programme.

So far, the scheme has attracted 11 foreign and local partners who have agreed to build 100,000 housing units in various private land sites countrywide, including the recently completed houses in Ngara, Nairobi.

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