Govan Mbeki Municipality’s executive mayor, Mr Nhlakanipho Zuma, together with the municipality councillors conducted a soil turning event for a new integrated residential development programme (IRDP) project in Secunda’s Ext 75 on Friday, December 10.
According to the Mpumalanga Department of Human Settlement, the project is estimated at more than R60 million and will yield 1 370 serviced stands. These services entail the delivery of internal water and sewer reticulation, gravelling of roads and a water management system.
Mr Zuma said this is a groundbreaking project that forms part of a Secunda west corridor – a plan spoken of for decades.
“This project was announced by our former leaders to provide human settlement that is up to standard and desired for all residents of Govan Mbeki Municipality.
“We were unable to make a breakthrough for a long time. We are excited because we are now able to provide our community with land on which to build houses, social amenities or businesses,” said Mr Zuma.
He said before they can give people these sites, they need to prepare them by installing sewer and water infrastructure through the Department of Human Settlement.
“The only area that we are not going to touch, is roads and electrical infrastructure which will come at the later stage. We need to get sufficient funding for those projects.
“Secunda has abundant capacity when it comes to electricity but the only problem is that our infrastructure must be aligned in a manner that is equitable,” said Mr Zuma.
He said the municipality will contact various national departments to provide them with sufficient funding to build state of the art infrastructure to provide electricity to Ext 75.
Mr Zuma thanked the Department of Human Settlement for its commitment to developing the municipality into a city because their vision is to make the municipality a model city and a centre of excellence.
The mayor said the project will alleviate the shortage of employment opportunities.
He expects quality work and a completed project from the contractors with no shortcuts.
“Quality must not be compromised over quantity,” he said.
Prince of Tides was appointed as the developer.
The new housing project is expected to commence in January and be completed in March 2023.
