Tshwane property developers in dire straits due to massive backlogs

For more than three months, the Tshwane municipality’s Planning and Development Department has been without offices, causing massive property development backlogs.

This has proved to be a nightmare for property developers, with hundreds of files of property planning and development applications packed into an ever-growing pile of boxes, Pretoria Rekord reports.

The department vacated its offices at the Isivuno building in the Pretoria CBD mid-December last year after it was found the building was in violation of occupational health and safety regulation minimum standards.

The Middestad building, also in the CBD, was meant to become the department’s new base, but months later, and this office is still not operational.

It appears some staff are working from home, while others are working at regional offices.

Currently, only three out of eight regional offices are functional. Those in the east, north and Pretoria Moot areas have also not been functional since mid-December 2021.

Staff working from home do not have access to files or IT equipment.

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‘Management disaster’

Pretoria Institute for Architecture executive officer Mauneen van Wyk described the lack of progress in solidifying offices for the department to the publication as a “complete management disaster” .

Van Wyk said the department being without offices was creating debilitating backlogs in approving building plans and issuing occupancy certificates.

 “New developments in Tshwane have and will now be adversely affected with massive costs to developers and homeowners which can’t be recouped,” she said.

“All building files have not been filed in the new offices in Middestad building for access by staff.”

This leaves property developers not being able to get plans approved efficiently, or not having access to previously approved plans in dire straits.

“Property developers and the public alike are at their wits’ end.

“Our members are suffering financially because they simply can’t deliver for clients, but so does the city. Professionals have lost their livelihoods; developers are looking outside of Tshwane to develop; and members of the public are unable to build, sell or renovate their properties,” van Wyk said.

“We are aware for instance that the total value of approvals for smaller projects has declined from more than R250 million in 2016 to a mere R25 million approved in the last financial year.

“This decline in the approvals is not due to a decline in the market. The problem is that many of these projects have now been awaiting approval for over two years.”

South African Association of Consulting Professional Planners’ Peter Dacomb said in a letter to the municipality the metro’s move was “clearly ill-informed and premature.”

“There are rumours afloat that the Middestad building may be challenged by several aspects including questionable structural integrity, inadequate internal infrastructure (data lines, etc.), inappropriate ergonomic planning and problematic furniture, parking problems, etc.”

He said member firms reported long-standing clients now threatening them with legal action due to the losses on the part of the municipality to find a solution to the ongoing problem.

Developers are now suffering from growing bank loans for projects currently at a standstill.

One Pretoria resident told Pretoria Rekord anonymously she got a mortgage loan but since April last year has not been able to proceed with home building plans due to the delay in them being approved.

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Backlogs due to ‘delays’

Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo told Pretoria Rekord that, ironically, the delay in moving the department into the Middestad building was due to a delay in building occupancy certificates.

“It is hoped that by the end of March 2022, the process will be concluded and various departments including city planning will be relocated to the newly acquired Middestad building,” Mashigo said.

She conceded there was a backlog, but that it was being attended to, with the move to the Middestad building due to alleviate the pressure currently faced by the department.

Edited by Nica Richards.

This article first appeared on Caxton publication Pretoria Rekord’s website, by Sinesipho Schrieber. Read the original article here.