YAOUNDE, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Cameroonian government is fleshing out details of a national infrastructure plan intended to get rid of slums in the country, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development said on Thursday.
The officials of the ministry, city councils, and UN-Habitat met in the capital, Yaounde, to scrutinize a draft of the project that seeks to construct modern houses and improve living conditions of people living in slums.
"Cameroon has a very fast urban growing rate. This urbanization has produced slums," Sipliant Takougang, national coordinator of Cameroon Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP), told reporters, adding these slums and squatter settlements lack basic services, and children face hardships like hunger and poor education.
"The government which has been trying for some years now to improve the living conditions of the population in various neighbourhoods is now designing a large program which will take into consideration all the other aspects of the cities," Takougang said.
The project is sponsored by the UN-Habitat and the Cameroonian government through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
According to the World Bank, Cameroon is home to hundreds of slums with over 60 percent of the population in urban areas living in informal settlements. Enditem
