The Senate has temporarily stopped the construction of affordable houses in Nairobi under the urban regeneration plan undertaken by the County government.
Issuing the new directive was the Transportation and Housing Committee that called on Governor Johnson Sakaja to stop the constructions until when a petition filled by affected tenants is heard and determined.
The petition which has been before the Senate for over one year was filled by tenants from Ofafa Jericho Ofafa, Jericho Lumumba and Maringo.
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“The committee orders that the city-county halts the development of the 13 estates until this matter is concluded by the committee.” said the Committee chair Karungo Thang’wa
The news comes at a time when the Governor Sakaja confirmed that old tenants will not pay to own the houses as they have been paying rent for the longest time from the time of their parents.
“I however want to clarify that these will not be free houses. These tenants have been paying rent for 40 or even 50 years. They have been very loyal tenants, from parents to their children; now they will be able to own the houses,” he said.
Sakaja called on the committee to reconsider its stand as they already have agreements with the contractors which must be fulfiled.
“It was not going to start in any case until we deal with these issues, but giving a blanket order that we stop the implementation is going to have a lot of negative contractual issues because the contractors must look for money from both local and international markets to finance the projects,” said Sakaja
According to the committee, the tenants are in fear that the ongoing constructions will leave them in the cold thus the need for an agreement before the constructions are allowed to continue.
