First phase sh300bn city housing plan to start

PERIOD: May 23 to 29, 2016

23/05/2016 : The standard, Page 19

• Old houses taken down and new ones built to accommodate more home buyers
• First phase of the project, valued at sh80b will see old houses demolished in old and new Ngara, Pangani, Jeevanjee and bachelors, Ngong Road inspectorate staff quarters, Uhuru estate and Those along Suna road.
• The second phase of the project will be undertaken in Woodley.
• Last phase valued at sh150b will cover Bahati, Mbotela, Ziwani, Makongeni, Kaloleni, Jericho and Shauri Moyo.

Motor Mart one of the several iconic coast buildings to be demolished

23/05/2016 : The Standard, Page 23

• Motor Mart is owned by the Kenya Ports Authority pension scheme.
• It was condemned in 2012 but has not been pulled down due to court battle between the tenants and the scheme.
• The scheme says it has not signed any contract with anyone to collect rent on behalf of pensioners.
• The building could collapse any time since it has not been renovated as had been recommended by engineers who assessed it in 2012.Read more

Kenya adopts new building regulations

23/05/2016 : The  Daily Nation, Page 33

• Professionals in the construction industry will undergo retraining after the government approved discarding of British standards in favour of European norms now in use globally.
• The Eurocodes became Britain’s new standards for structural design on April1, 2010, rendering the old standards irrelevant
• The Eurocodes demands uniformity in structural design of buildings and other civil engineering works including, geotechnical aspects, and structural features
• They are also preferred as they promote greater transparency in design methods and will ease communication between designers, authorities and clients.
• Kebs Managing Director Charles Ongwae said Moi University had agreed to undertake the training expected to take 5 years before being certified as Eurocode compliant. The university is developing a curriculum that will be used for the training.
• The standards are also expected to promote harmony and enhance safety in the sector.
• The retraining will start next year. This would enable the Kenyan engineers to compete globally.
• According to Kebs, come 2021, no product that doesn’t conform to Eurocode will be allowed in the market.Read more

Rwanda denies dumping joint Kenya railway route for Tanzania.

23/05/2016 : The Business Daily  Page 5

• The executive director of the northern corridor transit and transport Coordination authority (NCTTCA) Donat Bagula  said the Rwandan minister had been misquoted by a section of the media.
• According to the New Times, Rwandan publication, the country is still on course to linking their railway to Mombasa.Read more

Kenya Railways to curve out more park land for SGR route

25/05/2016 : The Business Daily, Page 6

• More park land will be curved out to create room for construction of the 2^nd phase of SGR that runs from Nairobi to Naivasha.
• KRC managing director Atanas Maina said 6 km will run inside the Nairobi National Park in what looks set to trigger standoff with conservationists.
• The 120 km Naivasha route will cost sh150b and its construction by Chinese firm will start in September.
• The KRC submitted 3 options, one is that it will cut a substantial section of the park, two is to build a tunnel but this seems difficult since the park is a low lying and the required gradient may not be achieved. The 3^rd was to have the track to Athi River before cutting to Naivasha, but this would increase the cost by extra sh27.7b.

Construction materials dominate imports as 32 vessels are cleared

25/05/2016 : The Business Daily, Page 17

• ­The port of Mombasa cleared 32 vessels in the week ending May 18. Out of these, 25 vessels weighing 306,419 tonnes were at the conventional cargo terminal.
• During the period under review, construction materials dominated imports at the terminal where bulk clinker weighing 73316 tonnes were cleared followed by 61,805 tonnes of steel and 54,150 tonnes of bulk illuminate.

Investigators get more time to finish probe on building collapse

25/05/2016 : The Standard Page 3

• The prosecution has been given two more weeks to complete their investigation into 3 government officials and owners of a collapsed building in Nairobi.
• This is because they want to confirm whether the alleged owners of the building could be the original owners and they also need documents from the ministry of lands, Kenya power and ministry of water among others.
• The final offence will be settled once investigations are complete.Read more

Players blame high cost for mess in building industry.

25/05/2016 : The Standard, Page 33

• According to the IQSK chairman, Andrew Mandere, who led his fellow contractors in addressing the issue of collapsed buildings, numerous levies such as the NCA levy, the Nema levy and many others charged both by the national and county governments are responsible for high costs.
• He says “collapsed buildings” was the work of untrained quacks that come cheap to beat the high costs.
• He also called on the government to stop being reactionary by acting when buildings collapse, and look for preventive measures first.
• Mandere claimed the country has no maintenance policy which forces building owners to repair their building after some time, and this is the major reason why they collapse.
• He also added that the current law that regulates architects and surveyors is too old and inhibits innovation among the younger breed of professionals. These professionals have been exposed to modern tech-savvy ways of construction, which the law does not allow.
• He also blamed rampant corruption in the government for bringing construction industry down. He cited the fact that construction contributes 14 per cent of the GDP, yet government officials have turned public projects into cash cows and are milking them. This in turn increases construction costs, since officials inflate the prices in order to scheme profits.
• Mandere also called on the government to abolish VAT on materials that construct cheap houses for the poor so as to eliminate the problem of homelessness especially for city residents in informal settlements. Read more

Road contractors to pay for substandard works

26/05/2016 : The Business Daily,Page 6

• Private contractors are set to absorb most of the road construction and repair risks as the government moves to cut the burden of tax payers.
• Successful bidders are henceforth expected to pay up for losses linked to design flaws, poor construction, sloppy project management and substandard workmanship, new guidelines on performance based road maintenance contracts indicate.
• The rules launched yesterday by the Transport Ministry leaves taxpayers to cover the risks “beyond the contractor” such as those associated with traffic volumes, politics and natural occurrences.
• Contractors will only be paid upon meeting the agreed service level, the guidelines state. For instance, contractors must ensure that the sections of completed roads have side drains, miter drains and cut-off drains before payment. The roads also need to have culverts, access drifts, erosion protection structures and manholes.
• The Treasury allocates sh25b annually to finance road repairs. Read more.

Coming to Tatu city soon: High density residential flats.

26/05/2016 : The Daily Nation, pg.51

• Lifestyle Properties is set to start building high density residential houses in Tatu City with the units priced from sh.6m.
• The developer will start with 1200 units on 30 acres of residential land to cater to more than 10000 residents when the project is complete
• Tatu City’s residential areas are divided between the high-density areas and more premium spaces like Kijani Ridge, where clients buy quarter- and half- -acre plots to build their homes.
• The firm says that 65% sold of Kijani Ridge has been sold.
• The developer is associated with Lifestyle Terraces, a sh1.6b gated community targeting high- and medium-income earners located along Mombasa road.

Basco in deal to manufacture top Italian paint range locally.

26/05/2016 : The Standard, Page 29 ; Home & Away, Page 2

• Basco Paints and Colorificio San Marco, a leading company based in Italy, have announced their new partnership under which Basco will manufacture the San Marco range under license.
• The partnership follows a successful two-year distributorship where Basco paints imported San Marco textured finishes from Italy and was its sole distributor within the Eastern African region.
• Kenya is the first company to receive license to manufacture the San Marco range outside its own 9 production facilities in Europe.

Nairobi prime property prices rise by 1.5pc in three months.

26/05/2016 : The Standard, Pg. 29

• Prices of luxury homes in Nairobi increased by 1.5pc in the first 3 months of the year, said Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index. The Index, which tracks price changes in local currency, shows annual and six-month growth to march was 3.3pc and 2.2pc, respectively.
• Nairobi is ranked 15^th in the 35-city annual survey, up two positions from 17^th in the last quarter of 2015.
• In Nairobi the index tracks luxury homes currently priced from sh80m, which are stand-alone units of superior quality and finishing, each sitting on at least half an acre in a prime address of the city.

British standards of construction will be discarded in favour of European norms that are currently approved and used globally.

29/05/2016 : Cytonn Weekly Report no. 21

• The residential real estate sector in Kenya is set for a major facelift as several county governments have launched plans to either develop or redevelop estates through private public partnership.
• Professionals in the construction industry in Kenya will have to undergo retraining, which will take a maximum of five years before being certified as Eurocode compliant.
• European standards are preferred over British standards due to the following factors:

1. Require uniformity in structural designs of buildings and other civil engineering works comprising of geotechnical aspects and structural features.
2. Eurocodes embody the most up to date research on aspects of structural behavior.
3. Less prescriptive approach of the Eurocodes allows greater slope for innovation and encourage designers to use advanced analysis techniques which will lead to better value for money.

• The adoption will curb the incidents of substandard buildings, unqualified personnel and achieve global construction standards in the Kenyan construction industry.
• The residential real estate sector in Kenya is set for a major facelift as several county governments have launched plans to either develop or redevelop estates in county government headquarters. For instance, this week the Nairobi County government announced a plan to construct 100,000 housing units’, approximated to cost Kshs 300 billion in a public private partnership (PPP) in Old and New Ngara, Pangani, Jeevanjee-Bachelors, Ngong Road inspectorate staff quarters, Uhuru and Suna Road estates.
• The trend is not limited to Nairobi with several other county governments adopting the Public private partnership way of financing their projects. They include:

1. Mombasa county in a project dubbed “urban renewal and redevelopment of old estates” aimed to renovate 10,000 houses in estates like Khadija, Miritini, Changamwe, Tudor, Mzizima, Buxton, Likoni among others with modern ones working with private developers.
2. Kakamega county in partnership with housing finance to put up 1,000 houses for county staff
3. A PPP deal between the Meru County and the CPF group which will involve an 115,000 square feet, 15-storey office complex.
4. Uasin Gishu county in Partnership with Wiehai International Economic and Technical Corporation of China for the project to renovate 3,000 houses owned by the county government. Read more