Renovation of a sanitation centre in the Bangladesh slum – Mombasa

As one of its first development initiatives in East Africa, the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta constructed a so-called sanitation centre between 2012 and 2013 in Bangladesh, Mombasa’s largest slum with a population of approximately 30,000. The facility provides showers, toilets and access to safe drinking water. The settlement lacks most elements of urban infrastructure and services – such as solid waste collection, sewage systems, piped drinking water and public lighting – therefore the establishment of the centre responded to the community’s most fundamental needs. Moreover, with the construction of the Mombasa centre, the Hungarian organisation was the first in the world to introduce a piped drinking water supply into the settlement. The newly constructed water network, extending over a distance of 15 kilometres, was legally connected to the system of the municipal water utility.

The facility was entrusted to a local neighbourhood organisation for use, whose members carried out the operation and maintenance responsibly. However, due to the intensive use of the centre, considerable wear and tear occurred over time. In addition, its normal functioning became impossible when the underground water pipeline was severed during a major construction project taking place adjacent to the settlement.