China Wu Yi, a Chinese conglomerate says its construction material complex in Kenya which is being set up in Athi River will be completed in March 2018.
The construction material complex in Kenya whose construction kicked off in 2016 will help bolster efforts to fill the 2 million housing deficit which exists in Kenya. It will comprise an exhibition area, office block, dormitory, service block, building material supermarket and a hotel.
Building material supermarket will mainly stock stones, ceramic tiles, bathroom appliances, electrical materials, construction hardware, lamps, and kitchen furniture, among others.
Yihua Lin, the executive deputy general manager at China Wu Yi in Kenya said that Kenya was chosen for the project because of the country’s good bilateral relations with China and because it is an economic hub.
China Wu Yi which is putting up the plant through its locally incorporated subsidiary China Wu Yi Precast (Kenya) Company Limited also hinted that they were targeting to employ 800 people once construction of the complex is complete.
Read:Kenyan urban centres face acute housing deficit
Materials stocked at the supermarket will be sourced from China but ultimately, the company plans to manufacture them locally.
The total floor area of the China Wu Yi Kenya Building, Industrialisation Research, Development And Production Base And Construction Material Supermarket is 75,970 square metres. The construction material supermarket will occupy 23,850 metres square.
A rapidly growing urban population has increased demand for housing in Kenya forcing people to seek accommodation in informal settlements.
While developers are constructing an average of 20,000 housing units yearly this is far way below the demand of 250,000.
A World Bank report shows that Nairobi is one of Africa’s most expensive cities for housing, with 2013 prices almost triple those of 2000.