Soita Shitanda

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 31 to 40 of 148.

• 20 Jul 2011 in National Assembly: (c) Our Ministry has finalized the preparation of the National Housing Bill which is soon to be tabled before Parliament for deliberation. I would urge the hon. Member and other hon. Members to support the passage of this Bill, which is aimed at streamlining the housing sector. view
• 20 Jul 2011 in National Assembly: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. view
• 20 Jul 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I said, the prices of houses are normally dictated by forces of demand and supply and currently, we do not have any law that would compel a developer to disclose issues of cost to the buyers. Operating in a market where we have an acute shortage of housing, it would be very difficult for the Government to compel developers to disclose all their costs to the buyers. view
• 20 Jul 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, my Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, has developed a series of incentives which are aimed at encouraging developers to fairly price their houses. Additionally, the Government through my Ministry is doing infrastructure development in areas where housing is supposed to be done just as a way of supplementing the costs to the developers, so that when they are able to roll out the houses for sale and sell them at affordable prices. We are, for instance, doing a sewer line in Mavoko. We are doing roads and water lines in some of the areas ... view
• 20 Jul 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I said, my Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, has developed a series of incentives which mainly target the low- income groups. For instance, any developer who is doing more than 20 units and he costs those units at not more than Kshs2.1 million is entitled to tax waivers on building materials. We are doing this as one way of trying to encourage developers to venture into the low income housing projects. More importantly, the Government, through the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme, is also undertaking some development of housing estates like the Phase I ... view
• 20 Jul 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, we cannot really force private developers to sell their houses at specified prices because they are operating in a liberalized market where demand and supply dictate the price at which you have to sell. But the programme--- view
• 20 Jul 2011 in National Assembly: No, Mr. Speaker, Sir. As I was saying, the housing programme that the Ministry has been operating for civil servants is actually one of the incentives that have been developed by the Government as a way of retaining quality civil servants within the service. The terms on which these houses are being given out to the civil servants are totally different from what is happening in the open market. There is really nothing we can do about what the other developers are doing. We cannot compel them to sell their houses at set prices because of the liberalized market we ... view
• 20 Jul 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the National Housing Corporation develops housing units which they sell to the open market. When we are selling these houses to the open market, we try as much as possible to sell them at prices that are fairly affordable, mainly through the tenant purchase programme where the buyers just have to raise 20 per cent and the rest of the money is a loan that is repaid over a period of 18 years. So, while the NHC strives to lead the pricing, there is a huge housing shortage in the whole Republic. We are not at a ... view
• 11 Aug 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. (a) Basic requirements and policy for building residential houses are: All plans for erection of buildings must be submitted for approval, dimensions of spaces on the front sides, access passage, service areas must be provided, standards quality and types of building materials provided must be certified, drainage of sub-soil, preparation of site prevention and identification of plot boundaries. (b)The management of Maseno University has constructed over 100 units of self catering residential units for occupation by students along the border of Maseno Block1/18 and Kakamega Trust Land. The houses meet all housing requirements ... view
• 11 Aug 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I said, the building plans are normally approved by the local authorities. Engineers from my Ministry have visited this project, assessed the houses that are being built and they are in compliance with the building standards. view