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African ministers
to discuss ways to finance housing
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ADDIS
ABEBA(July 23,2008) - African
housing ministers and experts in the field will meet to discuss on
overcoming the financial and resource challenges for sustainable housing
and urban development.
The second such conference will take place in Abuja, Nigeria between
28 and 30 July.
Millions of the continent's poor people are looking for better opportunities
in cities and this has created a serious human settlement problem
as cities are not coping with the influx from rural areas.
About 72 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's urban population are slum
dwellers.
With more than 300 hundred thousand condominium houses built in Addis
Ababa since mid 1999s, a target by the government to eradicate informal
settlements, Ethiopia is expected to share as well as learn the successes
and challenges with delegates from across the world.
During the first conference it was agreed that there was a need for
an enhanced framework that will seek to overcome the challenges of
shelter and urbanization.
This is taking into account the Millennium Development Goals, NEPAD
and the World Summit on Sustainable Development's Plan of Implementation.
The previous conference also identified strategies for turning the
urbanisation challenge into an opportunity for development, particularly
by consolidating integrated approaches to urban development and outlining
ways of managing the consequences of urbanisation.
These would include among others the urbanisation of poverty through
slums and informal settlements throughout Africa's urban centres.
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