Yes­ter­day, we linked to a story about a micro­cre­dit bank in Kenya that is devel­op­ing a liv­able neigh­bor­hood for for­mer slum dwellers.

Today, we find a gov­ern­ment pro­gram in Kenya that moves res­i­dents out of Nairobi’s Kib­era slum into a decent hous­ing. Over half of the city’s pop­u­la­tion lives in one of 100 Nairobi slums.

From this IRIN story that we found at Reuters Alert Net, we learn more about the step up the for­mer slum dwellers receive.

“I can’t believe I have left Kib­era for good! My new home is so clean, we have a toi­let inside the house; it is a dream come true,” Pius Okello, 46, father of six, said.

Okello, who had lived in Kibera’s Soweto East zone for 10 years, was one of those who moved on 16 Sep­tem­ber. The gov­ern­ment pro­vided trucks and work­ers to help the res­i­dents set­tle into their new homes, which they have dubbed ‘Canaan’, the Promised Land.

Kib­era is one of the largest infor­mal set­tle­ments in sub-Saharan Africa. Accord­ing to HABITAT, esti­mates of its pop­u­la­tion range from 500,000 to 800,000, with den­si­ties of over 3,000 peo­ple per hectare — one of the most densely pop­u­lated infor­mal set­tle­ments in the world.

The monthly rent for a room in the new flats, about a kilo­me­tre from Kib­era, is Ksh 500 (US$7) and ten­ants pay an addi­tional Ksh300 ($4) for elec­tric­ity and Ksh200 ($2.5) for water. The kitchen, toi­let and bath­rooms are shared but if a fam­ily takes three rooms, they get exclu­sive use of these facilities.

“I took three rooms because I have six chil­dren and I take care of four other chil­dren of my dead brother when schools close; at least now my wife and I have our pri­vacy and the chil­dren have a bed­room for the first time,” Okello said.

“The only prob­lem is that I feel that water and elec­tric­ity charges are high because they are charged per room; I should be charged a sin­gle fee for the whole house.”

The ongo­ing $300,000 Kenya Slum Upgrad­ing Pro­gramme (KENSUP) was mooted in 2000, and jointly funded by the gov­ern­ment, UN HABITAT and the World Bank Cities Alliance.

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