The Affordable Housing Board has cancelled a tender to sell and lease commercial spaces at the Pioneer Affordable Housing Estate in Eldoret, just nine days after President William Ruto handed over keys to the first homeowners at the Sh5.3 billion project.

In a notice dated Tuesday, October 27, the board said Tender No. AHB/DISPOSAL/02/2026-2027, which covered the proposed disposal, sale and lease of business spaces at the Uasin Gishu estate, "is hereby cancelled". The notice did not explain why the process had been stopped, according to Kenyans.co.ke and People Daily, which both reported the cancellation.

The board said the tender "will be readvertised in due course" and advised interested bidders to follow its website, the Public Procurement Information Portal, the government's MyGov publication and the print media for the fresh advertisement. It apologised to prospective investors for the inconvenience.

Deadline wiped out

The cancellation nullifies the November 10 deadline, set for 11am, by which bidders were to have submitted their proposals. The bids were to have been opened immediately after the window closed.

The tender had been floated only a week earlier, on October 20, two days after the President's visit. It offered shops across seven residential blocks, with prices pegged to unit size and ranging from about Sh900,000 for the smallest units to Sh1.7 million for the largest, Kenyans.co.ke reported at the time.

A copy of the tender schedule listed on a procurement portal divided the shops into seven lots covering Blocks A, C, G, H, L, M and N. Separate spaces at the estate's community centre and clubhouse were on offer on a lease-only basis.

A flagship estate

Pioneer is one of the largest completed projects under the Affordable Housing Programme, which is funded mainly through the 1.5 per cent housing levy deducted from salaried workers and matched by employers.

President Ruto handed over keys to 2,157 homeowners at the estate on Sunday, October 18. According to Capital FM, the development is made up of 552 social housing units for low-income families, 1,065 affordable homes ranging from studio flats to three-bedroom apartments, and 540 market-rate houses spread across 15 blocks.

Besides the homes, the estate was designed with 104 shops, a kindergarten, playgrounds, open green spaces, a clubhouse and a swimming pool. The government has said it plans to add more educational and sporting facilities.

Officials have presented the commercial units as a way to bring trade and services to residents' doorsteps, and as an opportunity for local traders to own business premises. The Kenya News Agency also reported that jua kali artisans supplied doors and windows worth Sh264 million to the project.

Questions for bidders

The sudden reversal leaves traders who had begun preparing bids in limbo. The board has not said whether the prices, the number of units on offer or the terms of sale will change when the tender returns to the market.

Public bodies can cancel a tender before a contract is awarded under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, but they are expected to give reasons to bidders who request them. Common grounds include changes in the requirements, errors in the documents, or a decision that the process no longer serves the public interest.

The housing programme has drawn scrutiny over the pace of construction, the allocation of units and the use of levy funds. The Pioneer site was itself the subject of controversy before construction, after hundreds of families who lived in the old Pioneer estate were moved out to make way for the new development, with some telling the Daily Nation they had not received promised compensation.

For now, investors interested in the 104 shops will have to wait for the board's fresh notice.

Photos: Kenyans.co.ke / PCS