The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) is in the process of buying Crystal Park Extensions 59, 69, 70, 71 and 72, for various types of housing.
“If the purchase is finalised, EMM will be building Mixed Use Integrated Development, affordable rental accommodation, social housing and fully subsidised, bonded and FLISP (Financed Linked Individual Subsidy Programme) houses,” said spokesperson Themba Gadebe.
“The development will yield 2 044 different typologies (houses) as outlined above.”
Clr Stefanie Ueckermann (Ward 24) first spoke to the City Times about the proposed purchase and said it will cost the metro R150-million, excluding construction of houses and infrastructure.
“My biggest argument is that, instead of paying R150-m just for the property, and the beneficiaries getting houses only in five to 10 years time, rather invest that money in an area where the land already belongs to the state,” she said.
Gadebe could not confirm this amount at the time of publication.
Lyndsay Ousman, a resident in the area, said the suburb can barely handle the current traffic and further housing will place the electricity and water supplies under additional pressure.
“The police station already can’t cope with all the crime in the area, how will they protect hundreds of extra people?” she added.
“We will toyi-toyi to protest this development, if we have to.”
Ousman said a petition was circulating in Crystal Park, Van Ryn Small Holdings and surrounding areas.
Ueckermann (neé Kruger) confirmed that, on April 29, the number of signatures of people opposed to the purchase numbered 700.
Gadebe said the planning process will commence when the land acquisition process is finalised.
“This will include the housing designs and plans and engineering designs,” he said.
“Once this is completed the infrastructure will be implemented and houses built; the envisaged period will not be less than 36 months.”
Ueckermann said the metro’s plans for this land deviate from official processes, as the local residents weren’t informed of the plans in time.
Asked when an objection period will be held for current residents in the area, Gadebe said: “The land parcels are already part of the Approved Townships and prior to the Township Approval process, objections were addressed as part of the Township Establishment Process.”
Furthermore, Ueckermann explained, Crystal Park already suffers from overloaded infrastructure, including roads which “are in such a bad state that they can’t be accessed by a normal car”.
“Since the start of 2016, the residents of Crystal Park had to endure 19 days without water due to the old asbestos pipes not being able to handle the pressure of new developments in the area,” Ueckermann added.
“There is only one primary and one high school in Crystal Park and they are already overpopulated.”
Bethuel Maloka, a consulting geologist with a BSc Honours degree in geology from the University of Zululand, urged the metro to fully investigate whether the area can handle new housing and the necessary infrastructure to accompany it.
“There will have to be proper soil and water management in the area and plans must indicate how (the metro) will sustain the area’s environment,” the Crystal Park resident said.
Gadebe concluded by saying: “[The plans] are guided by the EMM design guidelines, as well as the national human settlement policy to develop sustainable human settlements.”
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