Akright Projects Moots $5 Billion Regional Housing Scheme for East Africa

By Eddyson Lugangwa Posted 28 March 2006 @ 12:51 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

Nairobi (IBTimes.com) - Akright Projects Ltd, one of the

will on April 11 launch an East
African housing scheme in which it
will invest about $5b over the next
15 years, a top official said over the weekend.

Anatoli Kamugisha, the managing
director, said the launch would
coincide with their seventh
anniversary celebrations.

"After close to a year on the
drawing board, we are soon
unveiling our highly billed 'Akright Tropical Homes for East Africa,'" Kamugisha said.

He said the initiative was part of
their housing- for-wealth
multiplication concept in which
50,000 homes would be availed to
East Africans living in the diaspora, tourists and dignitaries in the foreign community. Up to 3,000 homes would be built per year.
"This concept was developed in
our bid to integrate the East African Community with the world
community as we nurture the
concept of 'Global Village,'"
Kamugisha said.

He said bungalows would consist
of three self-contained bedrooms,
a fully-equipped kitchen, living and dinning rooms, each costing
$100,000 (about sh180m).
Kamugisha said the scheme would
be inform of a revolving fund,
where money earned from the sale
of the existing units, would be
ploughed back into putting up new
housing units for sale.

He said the houses would be
fronted for the "weather refugees,"
who want to escape the chilly
European weather.

"We are planning acquisition of
strategic parts in Uganda, Kenya,
Tanzania and Rwanda, where a big
chunk of our investment is
located," Kamugisha said.

He said their plan was to bring the
French Riviera, USA's Florida and
Spain's Madrid into East Africa,
where celebrities will buy property
and live in them during winter
season in their countries, or use
them as rest pads during the hectic
summer season.

Kamugisha said the rich, retired
Western pensioners and mortgage
purchasers were targeted."Much as the idea is good for tourism, it is also good for the regional economy, which needs as many dollars as it may garner for growth, expand its tax base and gain financial autonomy," he said.

Several regional and international
banking institutions have offered to fund the project. "We have presented the plan to our
bankers. By mid-2007, we will have
finished constructing up to 400
homes. Part of these units will
house the delegates who are to
attend the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting next year,"
Kamugisha said. He said the company had acquired more 645 acres of land where the initial 3,000 housing units would be developed.

Akright has 2,570 acres of land,
710 of which have been developed,
while 1,860 acres, located around
the country, is undeveloped.

The company that started with only
six permanent staff is currently the biggest real estate developer in Uganda, with up to 3,000 workers.
The company boasts of a clientele
base of up to 2,000 satisfied
customers in its nine housing
estates.