Slum Networking is a community driven approach which sees slums not as resource draining liabilities, but as opportunities of sustainable change for the city as a whole. The programme involves the building of low-cost service trunks which include gravity-based systems of sewerage and storm drainage, the planting of gardens, and the surfacing of roads. In addition, 120 community halls have been constructed for health, educational, and training activities.
Slum networking set out five objectives: (1) a holistic approach to environmental issues in order to upgrade the slums and the entire city; (2) a significant reduction in the cost of utilities and housing; (3) the mobilization of material resources for the development of settlements; (4) the increase in community responsibility and control; and (5) the improvement of the overall quality of life in terms of education, health and income. The objectives were realized through innovative and low-cost engineering solutions. The designer gave priority to lowering and then paving the slum streets, so that they drain off excess rainwater during the monsoons; to placing a gully trap in each house for the removal of waste water and sewage; to installing a manhole-covered inspection pit for every six to eight houses; and to connecting slum sewerage lines to the main artery along the river.