Kenya to borrow Singapore's model in building affordable houses, says Ruto

This he said during a meeting with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Loong on Thursday in State House, praising the housing model Singapore has used over the years to provide decent housing for its residents.

President Ruto expressed optimism that with the knowledge and support Singapore will provide, approximately 6.5 million people will be able to benefit from the government's ambitious housing plan.

"We have agreed to actively explore methods of acquiring knowledge and support from Singapore's highly prosperous housing model," said President Ruto.

"Singapore has one of the most successful stories on matters of public housing. The PM has informed me that 85% of all Singaporeans live in decent and affordable public housing."

The Head of State went on to add that the development plan cannot be achieved if sacrifices are not made towards the vision among them installing mandatory savings models.

"They (Singapore) took some hard decisions and made some sacrifices where they undertook mandatory savings, and the results are there for everyone to see," he said.

"We are 60 years late in taking this bold step. I don’t want us to postpone this agenda any further and thus I’m asking Kenyans to make the sacrifices by saving into the housing fund so that 60 years from now we can also have a similar success story."

Among other agreements made between the two nations were on developing long-term strategic partnerships anchored on finance and ICT and considering providing investment opportunities in Kenya's transport and logistics sectors.

President Ruto has in his past addresses said that the government plans to build 200,000 houses every year and will in return provide job opportunities for the Kenyan youth. 

The proposal has however been met with public uproar as government plans to deduct 3% from civil servants’ salaries to cater for housing.