Members of Urithi Housing Cooperative Society can finally heave a sigh of relief after the firm started issuing title deeds for a prime property in Thika.
The 104 acre land with over 500 investors was at the centre of a debt row pitting the real estate firm and Family Bank. Urithi had secured a Sh 1 billion loan from the bank and placed the prime property as the facility’s security.
However, the firm management led by chairman Samuel Maina held a series of tripartite meetings between the firm, Family Bank representatives and members of the project and managed to settle the row.
On Monday, Urithi issued 86 title deeds, which are part of the 540 being processed, to members of its flagship Panorama Gardens project along Gatanga road, as efforts to revive stalled projects take shape.
Maina said the move was a huge milestone towards reviving the firm that was almost crumbling with a myriad of challenges including debts owed to financial partners.
“We want to assure our members that Urithi is coming back in a big way. We have already resuscitated many of our stalled projects. We have every intention of reviving all our stalled projects so that in the next few years, we will be bigger and better company,” he said.
Maina said Family Bank had granted Urithi Housing their request for a partial discharge on the Panorama project.
“Panorama was one of the projects giving us problems, but we have reached an agreement between the members, the bank and my office. Panorama members will now be allowed to discharge their plots from the bank; a major breakthrough in the revival journey of Urithi …those who have finalised their payments will get their plots back.”
Maina said in the last two years, Urithi has revived and completed nearly 40 projects from the Covid-19 crisis up to date. Another 36 projects are set to be completed in the next one year.
The chairman regretted that before the financial crisis, the firm was working on many projects at the same time, which required too many human and financial resources.
“We reduced our staff and are now concentrating resources on a few projects at a time. This time, we have scaled down our operations so that we can focus on just a few projects at a time to ensure they are well and speedily completed,” he said.
Members of the buyers’ welfare association named Panorama Gardens Residents Residents Association formed by some of investors who have been working to pay off the negotiated top-up fees to save their plots from auction, were a happy lot.
“This is a day of triumph, fulfilment and most importantly, a day of collective achievement. We gather here not as individuals but as a community that has weathered storms, crossed deserts, and climbed mountains. And now, we stand on the pinnacle of success, holding in our hands not just titles but tangible proof of our resilience, unity, and vision,” said Hilary Maingi Mbute, the chairman of the association.
At the same time, Maina divulged that the firm will reach out to all the investors of other projects most of which have been finalised.
“We have applied the model to some of our housing projects including Utange houses in Mombasa, Juja Plains Annex, Rongai and others, and members are now occupying their homes in some of these projects,” he said.
“Those whose projects have not resumed, we are calling for patience. There is the will, support and assurance from my office. I am confident that those who invested in Urithi will get the benefits of the projects that they invested in,” he added.