Lobby seeks one-stop shop permit as builders hold borrowed billions

Delayed approval for multi-billion shilling construction projects is holding back borrowed funds and jobs for hundreds of Kenyans, property developers now say as they seek a one-stop approval centre.

Lobby Kenya Property Developers Association (KPDA) termed the delays a wastage of available manpower, opportunities and an unnecessary cost on borrowed funds.

The KPDA added that Kenya’s quest for adequate housing for a growing urban population would remain elusive unless the government intervenes.

The KPDA, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary on November 3, is a voluntary membership association for commercial, residential and industrial property development sector that seeks to influence policy in the construction industry.

Chairman Mucai Kunyiha said a one-stop shop arrangement for handling approvals would quicken the process as well as reduce bottlenecks causing costly delays and creating graft avenues.

“Over the years our members have suffered from an uncertain time frame in obtaining development approvals and titling of land and dwelling due to a cumbersome government process.

Levies charged by county and the national government agencies lack consistency, transparency and predictability,” said the chairman.

He added that digitisation of the entire process, akin to the award-winning Huduma centres that put various government departments in one location, would curb graft and encourage faster processing of applications.

“We need a system that one can track from [the] point of application to completion of the process. Investors can apply for approvals from anywhere in the world and pay electronically for any monies required as it happens with the Nairobi County Government e-portal for building applications,” he observed.

He said joint ventures between individual KPDA members and some foreign investors had stagnated due to non-functional land-use planning and zoning laws that create loopholes for government officials to demand bribes for approvals. This particularly affect change-of-user, amendment, subdivision and amalgamation of title deeds.

Developers require approvals from environmental, roads, water, energy, land and the county engineering department and have to file separate documents and pursue the same for between one month to over 18 months.

This has seen some unscrupulous developers connive with government officials to get approvals allowing construction of unsafe buildings.

The lobby said in 2015 construction projects in Nairobi employed 154,000 people contributing 5.2 per cent to the national economy, with skilled workers earning an average of Sh39,480, semi-skilled (Sh26,342) while the unskilled workers earned Sh17,232 a month.

The KPDA though commended the National Construction Authority for making efforts to regularise status of artisans who learnt their skills on the job, saying the sector required an urgent supply of fresh graduates from vocational and technical institutions.

It said individual efforts by companies such as HF Group, Bamburi Cement, Savannah Cement and others could help ease challenges faced by the sector where contractors relied on unskilled labourers who build unsafe buildings.

“The problem with Kenya is we are urbanising faster than we are planning for the development. Slums and informal settlements litter our urban centres and it is commendable that deliberate steps are being taken through a private-public partnerships to arrest and rectify the situation,” he said.