Old homes to be knocked down in city upgrade plan

Mr Ogero said NCC, Thika, Nakuru, Mombasa and Naivasha councils had cleared their arrears but that Kisumu, Meru and Kericho still owe the corporation a total of Sh1.3 billion.

With the low fund allocation and push to meet its target, the corporation has turned to other avenues to raise money, including seeking partnerships with land owners, financial institutions and developers.

“We have received good response from land owners, developers and investors and we intend to meet our target through the expected partnership”.

Capital markets

The corporation is still looking to raise Sh5 billion from the capital markets through a corporate bond.

An initial plan to issue the bond hit a snag when the government backed off from guaranteeing it due to its then poor financial position.

But Mr Shitanda indicated that the government would provide the corporation with the necessary approval as the turnaround strategy has placed it on a strong financial footing—recording a profit in the last three years.

NHC intends to use the bond proceeds to develop land where the owners have expressed interest in joint development.

“The bond proceeds will be used to develop land that we find suitable,” said Mr Darius Kirubai, the corporation’s procurement manager in an earlier interview with Business Daily.

But the prevailing high market prices have damped appetite for uptake.

Developers have blamed the high prices on the high cost of construction input, skyrocketing prices of land for development and an archaic building code that limits the size of housing projects.