Housing Minister Soita Shitanda has said he needs Sh800 billion to eradicate slums.

According to a parliamentary report the minister says the first phase of the slum upgrading will be launched on Saturday.

Mr Shitanda says housing development and infrastructure planning will slow down slums and adds that he has a mechanism to ensure the poor and deserving will benefit from the upgraded facilities and houses.

Housing Minister Soita Shitanda

He said the slum-upgrading programme in Kibera with 650 houses "will actually benefit slum dwellers" but admitted past programmes benefited undeserving people.

Nairobi Metropolitan Development Minister Robinson Njeru Githae said the Housing Minister should force tenants who had refused to pay rent in Nairobi to do so.

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Members also complained about the disregard of building regulations and specifications.The report was compiled by Parliament’s Transport, Public Works and Housing committee chaired by Matungu MP David Were.

Mortgage schemes

Yesterday MPs passed a Sh1.557 billion vote for the Housing Ministry from the Consolidated Fund amid calls to speed slum upgrading and mortgage schemes for civil servants.

In this financial year (2009/2010) the Ministry was allocated Sh4.11 billion, a 9.5 per cent increase from last year’s Sh3.76 billion. According to the report, the Ministry required a recurrent budget of Sh1.027 billion against an allocation of Sh921 million in the current budget.

Shitanda said about 950 housing units under the Civil Service Housing Scheme are nearing completion in Nairobi’s Ngara Estate.