Pretoria – Plans are underway to reduce the housing backlog in Ekurhuleni following the announcement that government will start building 100 000 houses in the metro to benefit residents in the 119 informal settlements in the municipality.
The massive human settlements project was announced by Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Mzwandile Masina during a sod turning event held in Leeuwpoort, Boksburg, on Monday.
Billed as one of the biggest human settlement projects in the Gauteng City Region and boasting an investment of R2 billion, the project is being implemented in partnership between Ekurhuleni, the provincial Human Settlements and national Human Settlements Departments.
In the Leeuwpoort mega project where the sod turning ceremony was held, 22 000 mixed housing units will be built.
Mayor Masina said this year Ekurhuleni will start with the bulk infrastructure services such as water and sewerage. The construction of top structures will start in 2018.
“This project is going to contribute towards our dream of building 100 000 units in the metro over the current term of local government.
“We have a number of government officials who are in the gap market, where we have to intervene through the financial-linked individual subsidy programme (Flisp), mixed subsidy houses, the gap market and fully bonded houses,” said Mayor Masina.
Government will look into building with alternative building technology material in order meet the project’s targets.
Local labour, including subcontracting of local businesses from the community where the development is taking place, will also be used to encourage local empowerment.
Mayor Masina said Ekurhuleni, with a huge housing backlog, is the only metropolitan municipality in the country that has set a target of building 100 000 units of houses over the next five years.
Gauteng Human Settlements spokesperson, Keith Khoza, said the building project will inject a lot of money into the area, as it will create massive employment for locals. It will also assist in providing the social infrastructure that is highly needed by communities.
“We are also seeing the unprecedented integration of communities, bridging the issue of poverty and wealth, and also integrating our communities because the neighbouring communities currently in informal settlements will be integrated here into this project,” said Khoza. – SAnews.gov.za
