Govt's R160m housing project
Thabo Mokgola
16 August 2004
Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Sunday launched a multi-million rand social housing programme, in partnership with the European Union.
The R160-million programme, launched in Pretoria, would serve as a vehicle to provide social housing under different tenure options such as co-operative housing and rent-to-buy schemes.
Sisulu said the money would be spent through social housing partners from the private and non-governmental sectors on construction activities, subsidised loans, institutional capacity building and small contributions towards operational costs.
"In our strategy to fast-track the delivery of houses in the form of sustainable human settlements, social housing is central and key to delivery," she said, adding that the programme's potential was demonstrated by the contribution it had made in addressing the housing needs of approximately 1.5 million households.
Sisulu said the notion of quality integrated human
settlements in quality locations, which promoted strong and functional local economies, was central to the reason government had devised a National Social Housing Programme.
She thanked the EU for its commitment in lending a hand in government's efforts to provide quality housing to South Africans.
"Ours is a working partnership," she said.
EU Ambassador Michael Lake said projects undertaken in South Africa were closely monitored by the international and donor community with keen interest.
"What works in this country is looked at with a view to seeing whether it will serve as a model elsewhere in Africa," he said, adding that their experiences in programmes they have participated in helped them design programmes for other countries in the continent.
He said he hoped the partnership between South Africa and the European social housing institutions would emerge from this programme.
"These partnerships will encourage sustainable and mutually beneficial
cooperation in the spirit of the trade, development and cooperation agreements that link South Africa and the European Union," he said.
Meanwhile, Ekurhuleni municipality plans to embark on an awareness programme to educate the residents about the implications of land shortage in addressing the housing backlog.
The municipality said as much as people aspired to be housed in spacious rooms and massive yards, prospective property owners, however, needed to realise that the shortage of land for housing development called for new housing approaches, including high-rise buildings.
In an attempt to make residents aware of the challenges of a shortage of land, the council will embark on an education campaign to convince locals to consider high rise buildings as a viable option to address housing needs.
The campaign, which will be led by ward councillors, will enlighten residents on issues such as dolomite, geotechnical
problems and population explosion.
Ekurhuleni housing head and mayoral committee member, Kaifus Sambo, said the demand for housing within the Council's jurisdiction far outweighed the size of available land.
"Ekurhuleni has experienced one of the biggest population influxes in the country, with the result that most of the land has been fully utilised. The council is currently faced with a housing backlog of 140 000 homes.
"It is vital for us to engage residents and make them aware of the problems which the council is encountering in its efforts to build enough houses for its people. If they understand our predicament, it would be easier to accept our plans to build high rise buildings," he said.
In what could be a relief to those in the housing waiting list, Sambo said the council had identified 32 pieces of land which it intended to use for housing development. He added, however, that the land still needed to be assessed to establish its suitability for
development.
Source: BuaNews
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