Industrialisation secretary Adan Mohamed (left) with Li Xuhang, the
Chinese deputy chief of mission, at the China Wu Yi Construction Company
complex site in Athi River on Dec 21, 2017. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NMG
A Mavoko-based modern building technology material factory and
supermarket is set to start production in March as the government pushes
to cut the cost of housing by 40 per cent.
Trade,
Industry and Cooperative secretary Adan Mohamed, Thursday visited the
China Wuyi Construction Company complex in Athi River, Machakos where
the Sh10 billion housing materials supermarket is under construction.
The complex will occupy 23,850 metres square. It will exclusively deal in pre-cast components for building residential houses.
“This
technology will cut down the time required for constructing residential
houses by more than 30 per cent,” said Mr Mohamed.
“All the materials, including cement and steel will be sourced locally. The company will also be employing locals.”
The
technology, said the CS, will not only cut down on labour, it will also
reduce wastage and improve efficiency and quality of buildings.
“With
this technology, cases of sub-standard materials that bring about
sub-standard buildings will be a thing of the past. People wishing to
construct houses will only need to come here with their specifications
and get everything from here,” he said.
The pre-cast housing components include slabs, columns and staircases. It will later produce household furnishings.
The project is as a result of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to China, where a number of deals were struck.
In his Jamhuri Day speech, Mr Kenyatta said his government’s agenda in the second term will be of the ‘Big Four’: food security, affordable housing, manufacturing and inexpensive healthcare to accelerate development.
Li
Xuhang, the deputy chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy, said the
project is part of the China’s co-operation effort aimed at improving
the industrial capacity of four African countries.
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