Nairobi City County Members of County Assembly are pushing for a formal investigation into the long-delayed Ngara affordable housing project, saying the situation has left homebuyers exposed to heavy financial losses and raised serious questions about how public–private housing deals are being managed in the city.
The MCAs argue that the project, which was expected to ease housing pressure in Nairobi, has instead turned into a source of distress for investors who have waited for years without receiving the units they paid for, despite fulfilling large financial commitments and taking loans.
Leading the push is nominated MCA Hellen Okello, who told the county assembly that the matter must be urgently addressed through a probe into officials and partners involved in the development.
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“These are people who live in rental houses and some of them took loans. They had put aside their life savings to buy the houses. They are already servicing these loans, yet they do not have houses,” Okello said.
Okello is now seeking the intervention of the county assembly’s planning committee, urging it to summon those responsible for the project to explain why construction has stalled for years and what measures are in place to resolve the crisis affecting buyers.
The disputed project was launched in February 2018 at the former Bachelors Jeevanjee Estate in Ngara, with a plan to construct 1,800 housing units under a partnership between Nairobi City County and Jabavu Village Limited.
Under the arrangement, the private developer was tasked with financing and building the units, while the county provided the land for the development. The developer was later issued with a title deed, which was used to secure a Sh1.9 billion bank loan to support construction.
The project was originally expected to be completed within two years, but it has since faced repeated delays and missed deadlines, leaving buyers uncertain about when, or if, they will receive their homes.
Investors, many of them members of Taqwa Savings and Credit Cooperative, say they have already paid Sh387.5 million, which they estimate is about 67 per cent of the total cost of the project, yet the houses remain incomplete.
They say they stopped making further payments after noticing that the pace of construction did not match the level of funds already collected, raising fears over accountability in the project.
The group includes about 100 buyers who opted for two-bedroom units priced at Sh2.5 million each, while another 100 chose three-bedroom units costing Sh3.5 million, most of them financed through loans from financial institutions.
The initial agreement required that the houses be handed over by December 15, 2022, with the contractor expected to vacate the site by October 31 of the same year. However, both timelines were missed.
A revised completion plan later pushed the expected delivery to February 2026, but buyers say that deadline has also passed without any meaningful progress.
“So many families have been broken due to this project. Properties have been auctioned because of loans taken. We are afraid, and we suspect we are being conned,” Shariff Hussein said.
The investors say they have taken the matter to several institutions, including Parliament and the Affordable Housing Board under the Ministry of Lands, but no clear solution has been reached.
The developer has defended the delays, citing a combination of challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic, disruptions in global supply chains, rising construction costs, particularly steel price increases linked to the Russia-Ukraine war, and uncertainty during election periods.
Nairobi County Secretary Godfrey Akumali previously stated that Blocks Three and Four of the project could be ready for occupation by early 2026, with full completion projected for June 2027.
However, a recent visit to the site showed ongoing construction work with no clear timeline for completion, further deepening concerns among affected buyers.
“We visited the site and what we saw was disheartening. We need action against the developer,” Okello added.
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