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| President William Ruto |
President William Ruto has outlined his intent to rid Kenya of informal settlements by 2039. President William Ruto (pictured) promises that slums will not be found in Kenya in the next couple of years. How Ruto wants to finish slums in Kenya The president, while speaking at State House on Thursday, October 17, restated his resolve to use the Affordable Housing Programme to transform the lives of those living in slums.
Nairobi hosts Kibra, the largest urban slum in Africa. Ruto said his government was stepping up the efforts to phase out shanties in Kibra, where the first batch of 4,000 ultramodern houses were nearing completion. “In Kibra today, we are in the process of completing the first 4,000 housing units. I want to tell the people who live in Kibra and other informal settlements, in the next 15 years, we will have gotten rid of all the slums in Kenya. By God’s grace, will ensure that citizens have a decent dwelling,” said the president.
The president also marvelled at the progress made in Mukuru Kwa Njenga, another shanty town on the outskirts of Nairobi. Ruto said over 15,000 housing units were being built in the area with the object of transforming it into a decent estate with modern amenities. He declared that the plan would be actualised across the country. “We are going to transform Mukuru Kwa Njenga from a slum to an estate and to give those people decent livelihoods the same way all of us have decent livelihoods. And it is not just in Nairobi, this will be in all the other places,” said Ruto. Ruto observed that over 120,000 houses had been built within 18 months, this suggesting that much would be achieved in the next decade and beyond.
How many houses does Kenya Kwanza want to build in next 4 years? Ruto’s administration intends to put up at least one million units by 2028. To help the government would be the National Housing Corporation (NHC) which outlined its ambition to help the government deliver 250,000 units per year under the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). Earlier this year, Ruto announced that the government would offer affordable houses to ordinary Kenyans at a monthly rent as low as KSh 3,000.
The announcement came after the signing of the controversial Affordable Housing Bill into law, marking a significant milestone in the government’s efforts to address the housing challenges in the country. Elsewhere, the national government is actualising the construction of 40,000 units to house families relocated from riparian tracts in the city where flooding caused loss of lives and damage to property in May this year.
by Kai Eli
