REAL ESTATE: A new Sh750 million housing project targeting Kenyans eyeing affordable units has kicked off in Thindigwa area along Kiambu Road in Kiambu county.

Phase Two of the Green Zone Housing Project will see development of a total of 160 units one, two and three bedroom units that will sell from Sh2.6 million and will be ready by April 2022.

The project is being developed by Meera Construction Ltd, a subsidiary of Krishna Group financed by Bank of Baroda.

It said the project is in line with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration ongoing programme to expand citizens’ house ownership through affordable housing.

Meera Construction team leader Suraj Jeram said they were playing their part to support the President’s noble affordable housing development agenda for the citizens.

“We have partnered with Housing Finance for buyers’ mortgage loans at negotiated rate of nine per cent so the buyers will pay as little as Sh16,500 per month for one bedroom apartment,” he said in a statement.

Jeram said Phase two of the project follows the successful completion of the first phase of the project to build two and three-bedroom apartments at a cost of Sh2.1 billion.

Meera Construction director Priyen Ghaghada said the developer defied the Covid-19 pandemic slowdown to deliver the project which started off in 2018.

Strict deadlines

“We tried hard to deliver the project on time with strict deadlines thanks to our young team from Meera construction Ltd,” he added.

Kenyans can own the houses through three ways including cash, mortgage, and tenant purchase.

According to a 2016 World Bank report, Nairobi county has an annual housing demand of between 150,000 and 200,000 housing units.

In the houses built each year, more than 48 percent is for upper middle income, 35 percent for high income earners and only 2 percent for low income population.

This is despite the poor segment of the population having the greatest housing need.

The huge shortfall of housing supply for the low income, said City Hall, is met through the proliferation of slums and informal settlements.