More than 70 000 homes built for Gauteng citizens
The MEC urged that the construction industry should consider working on weekends as well as the evening to catch up on time lost to rainy days and holidays, as this will assist in speeding up delivery of new houses
More than 70 000 families of Gauteng now have a place to call home and a decent roof over their heads. This is all thanks to the Department of Human Settlements in the Province, as it prepares to close the financial year 2018/19 at the end of March.
Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Dikgang Uhuru Moiloa noted this yesterday when he hosted an Inter-Governmental Relations Forum with municipalities and Housing Agencies in the Province. The Inter-Governmental Relations Forum is meant to align planning and better coordinate efforts in the delivery of sustainable Human Settlements.
The MEC noted that this was the last IGR meeting and urged attendants to speed up housing delivery in the Province and said it was important that innovative strategies be adopted in the construction of human settlements and for contractors to think out of the box in the delivery of houses to the citizens of Gauteng.
He urged that the construction industry should consider working on weekends as well as the evening to catch up on time lost to rainy days and holidays, as this will assist in speeding up delivery, The MEC also urged contractors to quickly embrace the usage of Alternative Building Technologies (ABT).
“In most industrialised countries construction continues in spite of the rain and snow” said the MEC. In addition, he noted that much progress has been registered in Gauteng with the kick-starting of Mega Human Settlements and that Gauteng residents can expect more houses and sustainable human settlements to be delivered.
“The construction of Mega Human Settlements projects has ramped up and more citizens have decent shelter now more than ever, as Mega project have begun yielding tremendous results in Gauteng.
“To date 16 Mega Projects are under construction and 14 are at various stages of planning. In the last two financial years, the Department and the Premier have launched the following Mega Projects:
• Vaal River City (Sedibeng)
• Elijah Barhayi (Merafong),
• Montrose (Rand West City)
• Riverside View (Johannesburg)
• John Dube (Ekurhuleni),
• Daggafontein (Ekurhuleni)
• Rama City (Tshwane)
“These will be followed by Vaal River City and Lanseria City development projects of which the planning is quite advanced,” said MEC Moiloa.
He also noted that much progress has been made on the acquisition of land in the Province; with 6 land parcels acquired during the course of the 2018-19 financial year; four in Sedibeng and two in Tshwane.
Portions of the land have serviced stands while on others there is still the need for infill development, some are going through the valuation process and township status approval. While other parcels of land will be used for a Mega Project development that will deliver 19 000 units to address informal settlements around the City of Tshwane.
MEC Moiloa added that about 100 000 stands had been identified through the Rapid Land Release Program of the Department in the coloured communities of Eldorado Park, Ennerdale, Eersterus and Palm Ridge and will be given to these residents soon.
The 100 thousand planned serviced sites are spread all over the five development corridors and the MEC says he is delighted that thousands of people have embraced the Premiers call for residents to start building their own houses.
On the issue of the Rapid Land Release programme the MEC said that the total number of potential release opportunities will be over 166 000. These opportunities are in various stages of planning studies and construction, while some have been identified for immediate release. Stands have also been ring-fenced for military veterans.
The MEC noted that there was a decrease in service delivery protests but condemned lawlessness in the human settlements space. “We will not shy away from dealing decisively with those involved in house-jacking, vandalism, the illegitimate business forums and those involved in land grabs. The law must deal with them harshly.”
MEC Moiloa condemned the sale and renting out of RDPs to illegal foreigners. He announced that the Department will be working together with the Department of Home Affairs to curb these unlawful activities, and urged Home Affairs to put strict controls in place, as the uncontrolled movement of illegal foreigners affects the delivery of human settlements to the citizens or Gauteng.
“In addition to working closely with Home Affairs, the Department will also be working together with the Department of Water and Sanitation to invest in bulk infrastructure and ensure that we can grow South Africa together and keep the economic hub on an upward trajectory,” he said.
The MEC said that the Department was in the process of cleaning up the Demand Database formerly known as the “waiting list”. The list is being cleaned up with the aim of making it public by publishing it for all to see in the Province, each region will have its own database.
In conclusion the MEC added that there was improved expenditure in the Department which now stands at 84% with invoices currently being processed. “The Department is projected to achieve over 95% of the budget, breaking a record after many years of under-expenditure,” he said.
The meeting was attended by MMCs and officials from municipalities, agencies and the Department.
