Land redistribution: Govt releases more hectares to housing

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has released more state-owned land to address spatial and socio-economic imbalances in the country.

Land for Human Settlements

The DPWI has released 2 556 hectares of land (44 parcels) to the Housing Development Agency (HDA) for human settlement development purposes.

“Power of Attorney for these parcels of land has been given to the HDA for development planning purposes,” said DPWI leaders Patricia De Lille.

Over and above, the release of the 44 land parcels, DPWI has also released an additional 17 land parcels measuring 533 hectares for human settlement purposes.

“Land redress is one of the key drivers in our country and ensuring that public land is used for public good,” said De Lille.

Land for socio-economic purposes

At least 15 hectares (11 land parcels) have been approved for registration of servitude for roads, water, electricity and gas pipeline servitudes in this past financial year.

Land for Restitution

Another 30 277 hectares or 214 land parcels have been released for restitution. Last year’s target for restitution was 10 000 hectares, which was substantively exceeded.

Land for Redistribution (Land Tenure)

The DPWI has freed up 25 549 hectares of agricultural land (125 parcels) for the Redistribution Programme.

For this new financial year, DPWI has projected these targets for release:

• 7 100 hectares in various provinces for human settlements development purposes
• 180 hectares for socio-economic purposes that will support the Eskom and Sanral programmes
• 154 745 hectares under land reform for restitution to support land ownership.

This amounts to over 162 000 hectares targeted for release nationally for the new financial year.

So far, for the 2022/23 financial year, of the 162 000 hectares of land targeted for release:

• Four parcels of land for human settlements in KwaZulu-Natal Province for residents affected by the flooding earlier this year
• 1539,3 hectares for Land reform

“The need for land in our country is great, and greater urgency needs to be put in by all spheres of government for this work of releasing land to achieve land reform and ensure that more public land is used for public good,” said De Lille.

Compiled by Narissa Subramoney

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