Parliament Presses Govt Over Stalled Affordable Housing Projects

Jukwaa

📻 Breaking It Down

The National Assembly Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works challenged the State Department for Housing and Urban Development and the Affordable Housing Board to provide detailed updates on projects that have stalled, the specific challenges affecting them and measures being taken to get them back on track.

The State Department attributed delays to procurement challenges, limited contractor capacity, project management shortcomings and the transition to the electronic government procurement system.

Principal Secretary for Housing Charles Hinga told the committee that the scale of the Affordable Housing Programme had exposed weaknesses in the capacity of local contractors and public procurement systems, but said the experience was providing lessons that would strengthen implementation of future projects.

📌 What You Need to Know

“What we are looking at is something that is unprecedented in the market,” Hinga told the committee.

He said the Government had encountered cases where contractors won tenders but lacked the financial or technical capacity to mobilise resources and commence construction.

Hinga said the department was tightening its systems to ensure unqualified contractors do not secure public projects and to take action against firms that fail to deliver after being awarded contracts.

The PS, however, rejected suggestions that the entire Affordable Housing Programme was failing, saying most projects were progressing despite challenges affecting some sites.

“We don’t want to say that there is no problem. There are challenges, and we are walking around them,” he said.

Hinga identified procurement as one of the major impediments to implementation, particularly during the transition to the electronic government procurement system.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya

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