A Japanese architect is promoting construction of "infrastructure-free" homes for people in a Nairobi slum.

"Kenya has 'people power' though it's poor," Izumi Sakata, 59, said. "Seeds cultivated in Japan should bear a lot of fruit there."

Sakata is leading a project in Kenya to build homes in areas lacking water supply, sewers, electricity and other infrastructure. A 12-unit apartment building is due to be completed early next year in a suburb of the Kenyan capital, the project's first major achievement.