Housing rethink in pipeline
Veronica Mohapeloa
26 May 2004
The government will invest R24-million over the next nine years in building rural and urban houses that meet minimum health, safety and quality standards.
About 43 000 direct jobs and 40 000 indirect job opportunities could be created per annum in the process.
Briefing the media in Parliament in Cape Town on Tuesday, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu committed her department to beating the three-month deadline set by President Thabo Mbeki for delivering a detailed plan on human settlement in the country.
Sisulu said that within the next two months she would deliver a plan to Cabinet on how to deal with, among other things, the rehabilitation of informal settlements and an enhanced approach on medium-density housing.
She said the programme would be developed in collaboration with the departments of agriculture and land affairs, provincial and local government, water affairs and forestry as well as public works.
Sisulu said housing
delivery had to be speeded up, as the rapid rate of urbanisation in the country meant that the current pace of 19 000 houses built a year was insufficient to meet the demand.
The current housing backlog, according to the minister, stands at 2 399 822 households, with backyard shacks and informal shacks constituting 4.8 percent and 16.4 percent respectively of all dwellings.
"The bulk of the backlog is at the lowest end of the income spectrum, constituting approximately 22.3 percent of all households", Sisulu said.
She explained that research had shown that 2.1 million new houses had to be built to meet the country's housing demands, which would necessitate improved skills development.
For this reason, a provincial support unit would be set up to assist provinces and other spheres of government with project management and financial skills.
Sisulu said the programme was expected to create spin-offs in terms of job-creation and skills transfer.
She
added she would be meeting with financial institutions to urge them to assist in delivering on the government's vision.
Source: BuaNews
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