An ambitious plan to provide 112 000 households in the metro with either serviced stands or formal housing in this financial year, has been announced by Tshwane executive mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa.
The provision of housing will be done jointly by Tshwane metro funding 35 000 stands, the Gauteng provincial government funding 37 000 and the private sector delivering 40 000 units.
Several parcels of land owned by the metro would be auctioned off to fund the massive housing project, Ramokgopa reporters in Centurion on Wednesday.
He said the aggressive drive by the metro to provide its citizens with land formed part of an attempt to rid Tshwane of its current estimated 160 000 illegal squatter dwellings, although it was virtually impossible to catch up with the backlog of housing.
Thousands of people flood to Tshwane every month in search of a better life.
To catalyse private sector investment, Tshwane decided to sell at least 81 properties by way of public auction, with the properties identified being situated in at least five regions of the city.
“The individual properties were considered from various planning perspectives and requirements such as flood lines and drainage control, and presence of existing infrastructure,” the mayor said, adding that the first public auction would be held on 24 March with an introductory event scheduled for 17 February to workshop and prepare potential buyers.
Some of the properties to be auctioned include the so-called Koeksister near the N4 in Hatfield and a property in Highveld, next to Eco Park in Centurion. The metro hopes to raise at least half a billion rand from the sale of these properties.
The city, however, needed between R6bn and R8Bn to completely eradicate informal settlements.
Ramokgopa said various housing development projects initiated by the metro in partnership with the provincial department of human settlements were already in various stages of development. These include:
*Nellmapius Extension 22 – 1 880 serviced stands and top structures including 550 rental units and 98 units for military veterans;
*Winterveldt – 7 530 serviced stand and top structures with 4 548 houses already built;
*Thorntree View – 8 537 serviced stands and top structures;
*Olivenhoutbosch Extension 60 – 757 serviced stands;
*Olivenhoutasbosch Extension 27 – 1 770 serviced stands and top structures;
*Zithobeni Extensions 8 and 9 – 2 287 serviced stands;
*Zandfontein – 3 000 serviced stands and top structures;
*Lotus Gardens – 2 000 serviced stands;
*Lady Selbourne – 8 000 serviced stands and top structures in 8 phases with medium to high density units of which 299 are already completed;
*Fort West Extensions 4 and 5 – 959 service stands with a medium to high density development to yield about 7 700 units; and
*Garsfontein – 600 serviced stands with medium to high density units.
“While we acknowledge that informal settlements are likely to continue to exist with the city being a magnet for internal and international migrants who come into the city in search of education and job opportunities, we have made a conscious investment in the provision of basic services and a package of rudimentary services for informal settlements,” Ramokgopa said.
The package included, among others, water provision through stand pipes, JoJo tanks or water tankers, chemical toilets to be serviced twice a week, gravel roads, high mast electricity and waste collection through plastic bags and or skip bins serviced once a week.
About the formalisation of informal settlements, the mayor said the city had embarked on a major programme named the Re aga Tshwane that entailed either relocating communities to pegged and serviced stands or the upgrading of existing areas with full services in about 160 unproclaimed townships.
“The tenure upgrading puts Tshwane in the position to focus its efforts on complying with its constitutional obligations, and by undertaking the project, contributed to security of tenure and increasing the value of the land through development,” he said.
In addition, the metro also contributed to security, redistributing real wealth and embark on a more equitable and cost-effective collection of land taxes, service charge revenue and reciprocally paving the way for the installation of services and infrastructure.
The full package of services provided in this programme included, among others, metered water and electricity to households, sanitation connections, paved roads, street names and lights, parks and soccer fields, kerbside waste collection, title deeds and council recommended building plans.
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