The State Department for Housing and Urban Development (SDHUD) has handed over to the contractor the first Affordable Housing project in Nyamira County worth Sh1.9 billion.
The department’s Western Rift region team Lead Nyaigoti Mogeni, while handing over the construction site at Sironga grounds in Nyamira South Sub County to Padaa Enterprise limited company, stressed that the mega project would commence immediately adding would constitute construction of 756 units.
“This particular site where the construction of affordable housing units will be undertaken was selected after extensive consultations and public participation with members of the public as per the regulations before advertising it for interested contractors to bid for construction,” Nyaogoti confirmed.
He said the project would greatly transform and improve the lives of the people within Sironga community and beyond because it would create hundreds of job opportunities where they would tap a source of livelihood throughout the project’s projected 18 months’ period.
“We have directed the representative of the contractor that he must consider locals for all his unskilled labour needs, source construction materials from local suppliers if they meet required standards and source some skills from local jua kali artisans and other technical professionals since this project is geared to benefit the local community as much as possible,” Nyaigoti said.
Padaa Enterprise Limited Company representative Mstafa Mohamed confirmed that he would work closely with the community and ensure that the local people benefit the most from the project through hundreds of job opportunities which would be available for the next 18 months.
“I encourage suppliers of all building and construction materials to be on standby and be ready to seize this rare opportunity and supply commodities of approved quality in large quantities so that we can be able to meet the project’s time schedule. I will ensure all people from this local community are given the opportunity to work so long as they have the ability to work and possess acceptable work ethics and integrity,” Mstafa said.
The consultant project manager who is a Quantity Surveyor Eng. Olivia Otieno explained that she would be in charge of supervising the contractor’s progress of work to ensure that he delivers quality work as per the bill of quantities.
“Constructing 756 units requires great keenness in ensuring that the quality of works is strictly adhered to so that we do not start experiencing unwarranted accidents once the project is complete,” Eng. Otieno explained.
Nyamira County Commissioner Erastus Mbui guaranteed that the project would be a game changer in Sironga area because it would immediately urbanise an area which has since time immemorial been uninhabitable because it is a swampy, marshy wetland which was mostly used by area residents for brick making.
“Sironga affordable housing project will totally transform this rural village into an urban town buzzing with numerous types of economic activities because the affordable houses once complete and occupied will come with unique demands for services which at the moment, can’t be clearly described,” Mbui explained.
He encouraged residents to consider consolidated economies where people live and farm together because the already diminished land sizes cannot enable people to subdivide land further for our future generations.
Ms Peris Agwata, a resident in Sironga welcomed the initiation of the project saying it would spur economic growth in an area that had been dormant since time immemorial because it is considered uninhabitable and unfit for any agricultural activities since it is a wetland.
By Deborah Bochere
