Iran to help Kenya build cheaper houses

By  Joseph  Ng’ang’a

The Iranian government  will assist Kenya to build cheaper houses through the use of affordable and quality construction material.

Speaking during the launch of a partnership between the Iranian government and the Urithi housing cooperative society on Thursday, Iranian  Ambassador to Kenya, Dr. Hadi  Farajvand  said that Iran has experience in building mass houses for low income segment of the economy and will be sharing it with Kenya to ensure they reduce the cost of construction of houses.

Dr. Farajvand said that the Iranian government has built 1.8 million houses for its low income population and an additional 300, 000 is under construction.

Dr. Farajvand also noted that they produce every component of the housing project where hundreds of companies are engaged in construction, production of cheap and light material in the fastest time while still maintaining quality and this will be exported to Kenya to help in the industry.

“We want to transfer our technology, expertise and experience to Kenya so that we can reduce the final price of housing,” said Dr. Farajvand.

The chairman of the Urithi Housing Cooperative Society, Samuel Maina said that the Sacco will offer affordable housing solutions to Kenyans by using modern technology which is cheap and fast to implement and is available in Iran.

“What we want to achieve is providing affordable housing solutions through purchase of cheap construction materials and home appliances from Iran,” said Maina.

“We will be negotiating for better prices for our clients and ensuring that we have quality and a variety more than what we have in the market,” said Maina.

He said that they will put up 1, 000 units using the materials, adding that this will reduce the cost to their customers through cheaper quality materials.

He added that the development will spur uptake of houses for the low income earners in the economy thus addressing the housing shortage in the country.