Slum residents to pay double rent for new houses

Slum dwellers living along the railway line will soon be relocated to new, permanent houses, after a one-year delay. Kenya Railways Managing Director Atenus Maina said the firm was doing the final touches on 3,000 houses.

Mr Maina said the completed units are along the railway corridor in Nairobi’s Kibera, Makongeni and Mukuru slums. “The beneficiaries of these houses will within the month move into the units that we have so far completed,” said Mr Maina.

He said vetting of individuals who had been listed as beneficiaries is currently ongoing to ensure that only those who had been enumerated benefit. The process of moving the slum dwellers was halted last year after a new group of about 400 people emerged, claiming they had also been promised a new house each.

Mr Maina said Kenya Power was connecting electricity lines as the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company laid its pipes – the only major installations remaining before the houses are handed over.

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Earlier estimates had put the rent for the houses at Ksh1,000 per month, but Kenya Railways said its technical team was still working on the final details on the cost. Most slum dwellers pay as low as Ksh500 a month for rent. The single-room houses measuring 20 feet by 20 feet have a kitchen, sleeping area and a toilet, which is a departure from the shanties in the slums.

The Kenya Railways Corporation and World Bank have funded the construction of the houses. Tenants of the houses will sign a 45-year lease agreement with the State corporation. The Ksh7 billion project is part of World Bank’s efforts to offer affordable housing to slum dwellers who cannot afford decent shelter as a result of high rents.

A total of 1,800 units in Kibera and Mukuru were completed and handed over to the Kenya Railways by contractors last year.  The project was started in 2012 after city slum dwellers resisted an attempt by Kenya Railways to shift them. The move is expected to secure the railway corridor. In the past, a number of train accidents occured as residents live and trade next to the railway line.

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