Stakeholders urged to support green building initiative

Various stakeholders were called upon to join hands and support the green building initiative during a one-day workshop organised by Kenya Green Building Society (KGBS) in partnership with Reall in Nairobi.

The initiative seeks to unlock green affordable housing finance to solve the housing crisis in the Kenyan market while supporting the climate change programs.

Speaking at the workshop, KGBS Chief Executive Officer Nasra Nanda noted that building green creates opportunities for all stakeholders who are keen on promoting a green environment.

“Building green creates an opportunity for developers and players in government and private sector to access investors who are keen on those who build with people and environment in mind,” she stated.

As key players in the building green journey, the private sector was challenged to state how they can support the government to achieve its agenda on affordable housing.

“The government has an affordable housing agenda to fulfil and also looking for development partners and financiers to fund these projects. The private sector needs to state how they can support the government and what incentives they might need the government to put in place – be it legislative or tax incentives to unlock financing,” Nanda added.

Dhamana Guarantee Company CEO Christopher Olobo echoed Nanda’s words by calling for partnerships to achieve the building green goal.

“We need to have partnerships to do the green building together. We need to make sure the government is in the discussion because ultimately, government has a very big interest in affordable housing, President Ruto has a very clear agenda and we need to do our part to help the government deliver that agenda,” said Olobo.

On matters financing, which was considered as a major challenge in the building green journey, Frank Mwiti, a board member of the Kenya Green Building Society noted that there is need to streamline items that work well for the market.

“There is need for structured solutions especially around financing and we have to get opportunity experiment so that we figure out what works well for our market and then it’s easier now to bring other stakeholders around that.