Company Announcement - The affordable housing market is showing strong performance in East Africa driven by a growing housing gap as urbanisation gains strength in the region. Housing demand remains high across East Africa and it is forecast that housing roll-outs will increase in the near to medium term. In Uganda currently 6 million people live in urban centres but this number will increase to 40 million in the next 20 years with the potential to create a housing shortage of up to 8 million units. In Kenya, the population of Nairobi will expand to 14 million people by 2050 which means that a minimum of 120,000 new homes must be built every year to keep pace with demand. In Ethiopia, the Ministry of Urban Development, Housing and Construction plans to construct over 700,000 condominiums as part of Ethiopia’s Second Growth and Transformation Plan.
The acquisition of land use permits and the cost of setting up the requisite support infrastructure have for a long time been key challenges for property developers in the East African market. This year for the first time, Totally Concrete East Africa provides a think-tank platform, the Housing for East Africa seminar, providing an opportunity for project owners and property developers active in the East African market to take a collaborative approach to such challenges and harness new opportunities to meet local housing delivery targets in line with growing demand.
The Housing for Africa seminar held during Totally Concrete East Africa this October will unlock access to new building systems and technologies to reduce construction costs in East Africa, and serve to familiarize local property developers with technologies being used for housing development across Africa including modular systems, high performance concrete, green building, interlocking systems, steel building, soil brick stabilisation and more.
Christophe Lalande, Unit Leader on Housing from UN Habitat in Kenya will contribute to the Housing for East Africa programme on the topic of sustainable building and construction for affordable housing delivery. In partnership with the Kenya Property Developers Association, the Housing for East Africa seminar is supported by an Advisory Board of 9 sector experts who define and influence the content and strategies that will be discussed during round table discussions at the event. Hamish Govani, Chairman of the Kenya Property Developers Association and Prof. Gituro Wainaina, Director of Social Pillars at Kenya Vision 2030 are amidst the industry leaders headlining on the Advisory Board. “We are very excited to be part of this initiative and think it will be an excellent opportunity for us to engage with and bring on board various private sector partners, and possibly government, to stress the sustainability component of the discussion,” shares Gregor Herda from the Green and Sustainable Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch of UN Habitat in Kenya.
Sponsored by ARM Cement and supported by more than 15 local partners including Kenya Vision 2030, National Construction Authority of Kenya, National Construction Council of Tanzania, the East African Cement Producers Association, Kenya Property Developers Association, Association of Citizen Contractors of Tanzania and many more, the Housing for East Africa seminar as part of Totally Concrete East Africa unites the entire cement, construction and property development industry value chain to raise levels of productivity and competitiveness, accelerate structural transformation and make the shift toward an inclusive, sustainable growth path in East Africa and beyond. More information available from www.totally-concrete.com