Sale of State low-cost Ngara houses starts

The government has started allocating the first batch of affordable housing units at its Park Road low-cost housing project in Nairobi.

This comes after the national government floated to the public, the first lot of 488 completed units which have so far been inspected and handed over to the government.

Principal Secretary for Housing and Urban Development Charles Hinga said the sale of the affordable housing units in Ngara will be closed at the end of this week calling on members of the public to apply for consideration.

“For all those who have registered on BomaYangu and have chosen Park Road specifically as your preferred scheme, kindly note we are closing the sale this coming week,” said Mr Hinga.

He said that one-bedroom unit will go for Sh1 million, two bedrooms for Sh2 million and a three-bedroom unit for Sh3 million with an interested individual required to deposit 12.5 percent of the amount based on the unit of choice.

The interested parties will also be required to commit how they will finance the remaining balance —either to pay cash or mortgage.

However, he said for those who cannot afford to pay cash, the national government has negotiated a reasonable mortgage deal with various banks, where people can go and inquire for a pre-approval for the balance.

“We have negotiated a good mortgage deal for you with the listed participating banks. Visit your preferred bank and ask for a pre-approval for the balance and you are good to go,” he said.

The banks include Equity, Co-operative, Absa, KCB, Stanbic, NCBA and HF, which have pledged Sh365 billion worth of mortgages for the affordable housing programme.

The Park Road, consisting of 1,370 housing units, is the first low-cost housing development by the national government under the Big Four’s Affordable Housing Program.

The PS said 822 of the housing units will be floated to the public at fixed prices with the remaining 548 reserved for civil servants on a 60 to 40 percent criteria.

The new units come with social amenities including parking, rooftop gardens, running track, solar water heaters, lifts, perimeter wall and security gate, retail and commercial centre and a safe children’s playground.

Mr Hinga said for one to purchase a unit at Park Road, they will need to register on the BomaYangu online platform portal with applicants required to be Kenyan citizens with proven ability to buy via a transparent and accountable manner.

“The government will do the allocation according to the constitution, based on gender equity and diversity,” he said.

The project sits on 7.9 acres of land and is being constructed by China State Construction Engineering. Before the project, the estate was made up of 48 standalone bungalows constructed during the colonial period. At the same time, the PS noted at least 26 counties have signed a deal with the national government to construct 2,000 housing units each under the BomaYangu initiative.