Hydro Developers Limited, a real estate developer based in Nairobi, partnered with the Kenyan government for the construction of approximately 30,489 affordable units under the Big Four Agenda, at a cost of 3.0 billion shillings.
The project dubbed Hydro City will sit on a 302-acre piece of land in the Kamiti area along the Northern Bypass Road in Kiambu County.
The project will comprise 10,166 studio units of 31 SQM, 9,384 one-bedroom units of 45 SQM, 6,256 two-bedroom units of 62 SQM, and 4,692 three-bedroom units of 91 SQM (specific unit prices are yet to be disclosed).
Kiambu County is one of the areas that the government enlisted that will be used in the implementation of the affordable housing projects, others being, Machakos County, Lang’ata Sub-County, and Starehe Sub-County.
Focus on Kiambu county is mainly supported by;
- Positive demographics having recorded a population growth of rate 48.9 percent from 1,623,282 in 2009 to 2,417,735 in 2019 according to the population and housing censure report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS)
- Relatively good transport network as the area is served by the Northern Bypass, Thika Super Highway, and Kamiti Road, iii) availability of land in bulk, and, iv) recognition of Kiambu as Nairobi’s dormitory thus hosting a huge working-class population.
Hydro City will be the third Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project under the affordable housing initiative, with some of the other projects being River Estate Project in Ngara being developed by Edermann Property Limited, and Pangani Housing Project in Pangani by Tecnofin Kenya Limited.
The above partnership is an indication that the government continues to enlist the help of the private sector for the development and financing of affordable housing with aim of achieving its target of approximately 500,000 housing units by 2022.