International Finance Corporation (IFC) has partnered with a Chinese firm to develop 30,000 affordable housing units in Sub-Sahara Africa in the next five years. The $300 million (Sh29.1 billion) investment will develop homes in Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria, then expand to other countries.

The IFC-CITIC Construction programme will work with local housing companies to develop affordable housing projects across Sub-Saharan Africa, each ranging in size from 2,000 to 8,000 units.

IFC Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Oumar Seydi said African cities are growing at a fast rate and the formal housing sector is struggling to keep up with that growth.

He said governments alone cannot cover the cost of housing, making private investment necessary to compliment their efforts. “African cities become home to more than 40,000 people every day, many of whom find themselves without a roof over their heads. Kenya’s housing shortage is estimated at 2 million units, while Nigeria is 17 million units,” said Oumar. “The soaring demand is being met by scant new supply. Africa’s housing market has few local developers with the technical and financial strength to construct large-scale projects.”

Oumar pointed out that the platform will help transform Africa’s housing markets by providing high quality and affordable homes. He added that the construction of each home will create five full-time jobs resulting in nearly 150,000 new jobs.

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Capability

Oumar reiterated that each of the 30,000 units will be built according to IFC’s green building standards adding that the organisation will advise on issues such as labour standards, energy efficiency and  reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

IFC will work with financial institutions to support mortgages and housing finance that will allow people to purchase the units. Assistant President of CITIC Group Hong Bo said CITIC Construction has a proven track record in constructing and delivering large scale housing projects.

She gave an example of Angola where CITIC Construction has completed 200,000 units, new city of Kilamba Kiaxi, with relative infrastructure and utilities in four years. “CITIC Construction will take advantage of our engineering experience and delivery capability to develop more affordable houses for Africa through the platform with IFC.”