NAIROBI
(Xinhua) -- Kenya’s urban
centers face a shortage of two million housing units, an
official from the International Finance Corporation (IFC),
the private sector arm of the World Bank, has said.
IFC regional director for East and Southern Africa,
Oumar Seydi, told a housing forum in Nairobi, Kenya that
the country was currently only able to construct 50,000
housing units against an annual demand of 240,000
houses.
"Kenya should use innovative methods such as
public-private partnerships (PPPs) to fill the housing
gap," Seydi said.
Seydi said that most of the houses already built were
targeting the middle and high income classes while low
income households were left with very few options.
He said that one possible way to increase the supply
of low-cost houses was for public land to be allocated
via PPPs to private sector developers to construct
large-scale affordable houses.
Estimates indicate that by 2050 Kenya’s population
will double to reach 80 million, Seydi said.
"We predict that 40 million of these people will live
in cities compared to the current 11 million people," he
said.
According to the IFC, the cost of housing in Kenya is
high among Africa nations.
"This is partly because most housing developments are
on a small scale and so can’t benefit from economies of
scale," Seydi said.
