Kenya leads Africa’s biggest housing construction drive, says president

There are more than 1,100 informal settlements in Kenya, where about 7 million people are currently living, Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto said during the Leaders’ Summit held in Baku for the first time in WUF history.

He described the situation as unacceptable and stressed that it cannot continue, according to local media.

"We understand the scale of the housing problem and the difficulties people face. One of the biggest problems is the widespread prevalence of slums. We have made a decision to direct funds allocated by the state for the improvement of housing provision to residential projects without taxation," Ruto stressed.

The Kenyan president also underlined that efforts are underway to lower construction costs:

"For this purpose, we have begun cooperation with professional architects and qualified specialists. Companies and specialists that previously built 30-40 houses are now being given the opportunity to implement projects of 3,000-4,000 apartments. We want all residential buildings to be constructed in accordance with established standards. We have created a special financial mechanism for this. A separate fund has been established, and a special fee system has been introduced to finance this sector."

William Samoei Ruto further noted that a large-scale housing initiative involving the construction of 273,000 apartments is currently being implemented in Kenya:

"So far, we have handed over 8,000 keys. Currently, the largest-scale housing construction project in Africa is being carried out in Kenya. A total of 700,000 housing units are being prepared. We have planned the construction of 55,000 houses by the end of the year."

By Jeyhun Aghazada