MBOMBELA – The provincial government’s plans to establish a parliamentary village came a step closer to being realised this week, when the municipal council approved making Maggiesdal available for its development.
At present Maggiesdal is the municipality’s low-cost housing project located on the R40 towards Barberton. Plans to develop an integrated human settlement on the site has been abandoned after 83,4830 hectare terrain was deemed unsuitable for a high-density residential development.
Finance MEC Mr Skuzumbuza Kholwane announced during his budget speech for 2016/17 that a parliamentary village is to be constructed for members of the legislature that will include accommodation. Accommodation for members who reside 50 kilometres or more outside the city are currently being rented. The village aims to save costs in the long run.
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Council took a vote to enter into negotiations with the province for the transfer of the land during its ordinary council meeting on Tuesday. Income from the transaction is to be ring-fenced for the acquisition of alternative land to establish an integrated human settlement in future.
Mbombela spokesman Mr Joseph Ngala explained that the slope and a prominent wetland system on Maggiesdal would have made the envisaged development expensive and unsustainable.
“The parliamentary village will be at a drastically reduced density of less than one dwelling unit per hectare. This reduced density will therefore be suitable, based on the guidelines of the spatial development framework combined with the reduced environmental footprint of the envisaged village,” he said.
Mbombela has valued the property at R9,9 million, but would now enter into negotiations with the Provincial Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport (DPWRT) on the amount. “It is not prudent to pre-empt the outcome of these negotiations at this stage,” Ngala said.
Outgoing councillor for the area, Mr Hannes de Kock, welcomed the decision to abandon plans to establish an integrated human settlement in the area. “It showed that in the end the ward committee’s proposals came to fruition,” he said. “We hope the valuations are only guidelines, and that we will get more money to ring-fence for future use.”
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Residents of the property live in uncertainty. The remaining two caretakers were verbally informed in mid-June that their services would no longer be needed two weeks later. The reason for this decision is unclear, as the people will continue to live on the property for the foreseeable future.
Since the beginning of the month, refuse has not been removed and the residents recently suffered another four days without water. Ngala said the municipality was looking into it.
According to him, a project steering committee, comprising the provincial and local government, is to be established to plan and implement the project. They will advise council on when to give notice to the current occupants of the houses.
“The existing lease agreements between the occupants and the municipality makes provision for a six-month notice period. We will therefore act in terms of the existing legal binding agreement and give them the prescribed notice.”
Spokesman for the legislature, Ms Zama Memela-Gamede, said they expected to start construction as soon as all statutory and design approvals were achieved.
“The overall objective is to reduce the total cost of accommodation for legislators whose homes are far from Mbombela and therefore have to be accommodated at various rental units at substantial expense to the fiscus.
DPWRT did not respond to the newspaper’s questions at the time of going to print.
