Sethokga Hostel residents in Tembisa, who are desperate to own dignified houses, are frustrated and concerned about the new community residential units which have been standing empty for over two years now.
There have been enormous delays in the completion of the Sethokga Hostel community residential units, said Mervyn Cirota the MPL and DA Gauteng shadow MEC for human settlements.
“This has been revealed by the Gauteng human settlements MEC, Paul Mashatile, in a written reply to the DA’s questions in the Gauteng legislature. According to MEC Mashatile, this project was initiated in the 2006/2007 financial year for the construction of 240 units,” Cirota said in a statement.
The site was only handed over to the contractor on August 11, 2011 – four years after it was earmarked for the project. To date 222 units have been completed while the project scope is still not complete.
“It is completely unacceptable that a project is prolonged for six years and three months. This impacts on service delivery and has cost implications.
“MEC Mashatile said the contract amount was R86 544 163, which was revised with variation orders to R153 808 856, which is double the amount of the initial contract. To date the expenditure has been R148 861 327 with 18 units still outstanding,” he added.
“This is evidence of the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements’ poor planning and poor project management. The funds that have been wasted because of the delays could have been used to build about 200 additional units.
“Furthermore, the department is in a process of appointing a contractor for the construction of 1 266 RDP walk-up flats. This is ridiculous as the department wants to start a new project while this one is still incomplete.
“Mashatile must fast-track the completion of these 222 units and hand them over to the rightful beneficiaries. The DA is concerned that the longer these units remain empty, the greater the risk that they will be vandalised and illegally occupied.
“We will continue to put pressure on MEC Mashatile to allocate the empty units to the rightful beneficiaries across the province. This will help reduce the approximately 800 000 housing backlog faced by this province.”
