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Soweto residents given one-month eviction order ahead of housing project

By Collins Omulo November 8th, 2019 2 min read

Residents of Soweto in Kibra have until the end of the month to vacate their houses to give way for the planned upgrading of the slum.

The project is part of the planned upgrade of the slum which has been divided into four zones and is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Housing.

The current one targets Zone B where 4, 335 affordable housing units will be put up at the slum in Nairobi. Zone A had already been completed in the first phase of the project in 2016.

HOUSING PROJECT

Director of Slum Upgrading programme Mr Charles Shikuku pointed out that the project will see the construction of highrise buildings consisting of one, two and three bedroom houses going for Sh600,000, Sh1 million and Sh1.5 million respectively.

“The residents have until November 30, 2019 to vacate their houses to pave way for the beginning of the second phase of the upgrading of the area,” said Mr Shikuku on Wednesday.

He made the remarks when he met 3,313 tenants set to benefit from the project at Nyayo Stadium where the various government officials where they were brought up to speed on the modalities of the project.

Mr Shikuku said the residents are required to open bank account where the government will use to give each Sh58,000 as facilitation fee, where Sh4,000 every month for 12 months will go towards payment of rent while Sh10,000 for the relocation process.

On the other hand, the landlords will get Sh68,000 from the government as part of the resettlement scheme.

The tenants will also be required to join a cooperative society which they will use as a vehicle to deposit at least 10 percent of the amount of their house of choice before they are considered.

NEW OWNERS

“They have been given housing cards to show who the legit tenants are in order to avoid cases where people come from other areas to benefit from the project,” he said.

In the first phase of the project in 2016, the government handed over 822 houses to new owners. The initial phase was designed as a pilot project to assess the viability of the plan.

In the first phase, a one-room unit was being sold for Sh600,000; a two-room unit for Sh1 million and a three-room unit for Sh1.35 million.

Occupants have up to 25 years to pay for the houses at an annual three per cent interest rate. This meant that those who took up the one-room units will pay only Sh3,500 at the beginning, with the amount decreasing with time.

Meanwhile, those who went for the three-room units will pay Sh7,875 at the beginning, with the amount gradually going down.

Kibera was identified for redevelopment since it is one of the largest slums in Africa, with an estimated population of 400,000 people.

The informal settlement is composed of Kianda, Soweto, Gatwekera, Kisumu Ndogo, Lindi, Laini Saba, Silanga, Undugu, Makina and Mashimoni villages.