Nairobi taps Sh57b deals on approval
The County Government of Nairobi approved development projects worth Sh57 billion between July and December 2019, a new report released by the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) indicates.
The report that gives the status of Kenya’s built environment between July and December notes that the county government collected Sh102.8 million out of 613 applications approved.
In September last year, industry players raised alarm that Nairobi City County had not processed any construction permit for two months due to downtime issue on the electronic permitting systems, adversely affecting projects in the building and construction sector
In the report, residential developments had the highest number of approvals at 75.5 per cent, followed by public use at 13.7 per cent, commercial with 5.69 per cent, industrial with 5.21 per cent and mixed use at 2.37 per cent.
The report was launched yesterday by Principal Secretary (PS) State Department of Housing and Urban Development, Charles Hinga, who also unveiled the AAK BuiltHub, a portal where developers will easily access information on building permits and planning approvals in various counties.
AAK president Mugure Njendu said the website will promote transparency in the construction sector towards increased investment, reduced corruption as well as aid investors in better and faster decision making.
“We recognise the strides taken by county governments in making development control information accessible, but undertaking a construction project in Kenya is still marred by unclear government approval processes which makes completing an application for the required documents unpredictable, long and tedious...thus delaying and discouraging investors,” said Njendu.
Hinga said the government was in the process of harmonising the approval processed for all counties before the end of the month.
