City of Joburg speeds up Lufhereng housing project
The aim is to decongest congested areas in Soweto.
As part of building Temporary Relocation Areas (TRA) houses, in the City of Johannesburg in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Housing department has been working tirelessly to decrease the risk of infections by decongesting congested areas in Soweto.
The Lufhereng project was started before the outbreak, however, according to Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) for housing, Mlungisi Mabaso, it was disrupted due to the lockdown as companies and employees were requested to temporarily put tools down.
“We have appointed the Lufhereng Development Company to assist us in building TRAs in the City of Johannesburg, however, on this one in particular, we are not bringing any temporary structures, but permanent. We have requested that these permanent structures be completed in a period of three to four months and they said it is possible, looking at the progress here, it is evident that they will indeed be able to complete within the requested period,” Mabaso said.
“We are responding to COVID-19, identifying overcrowded areas and trying by all means to decongest highly congested areas in Soweto, such as Protea South in response to this pandemic, to make sure that our people observe the social distancing regulation but at the same time we are providing dignity to our people. We are going to allocate them here and this will be their permanent homes and in a long run they are going to get their title deeds here,” he added.
There are three extensions, extension 9, 10 and 11, and they will have 621, 589 and 790 units respectively.
“We are going to work with our allocations department, to ensure that everyone who is going to be allocated qualifies, for instance, we don’t allocate people who can afford to rent, people who can afford to buy their own houses and undocumented foreign nationals to be allocated here. We are going to focus on South African citizens that are really in need,” said Mabaso.
[also read] – Phila Sonke Wellness Initiative in partnership with Wits University and South African Society of Physiotherapy donate masks to Soweto
Patrick Phophi, acting executive director of Housing said that as the department, they are going to use the housing waiting list and they are going to use the council resolution.
“This project is meant to escalate the development and make sure that people who are deprived in most of these areas, gain access to water and sanitation because of prime importance, hence the development is moving at this speed,” Phophi added.
Ward 53 councilor Mthokozisi Dlamini, and ward 135 councilor Elliot Sithole both agreed that the people who are going to be allocated are those who are already on the Housing Department’s waiting list. The two councilors will be managing this project together.
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