service delivery
15 February 2006
Last year, we staged a revolution in the manner in which housing delivery
was to be conducted. This revolution is premised and propelled by the new
housing strategy called Breaking New Ground (BNG) which we announced and placed
in the public domain for scrutiny. Since this was a radical shift in strategy,
we unequivocally stated, amongst other things, that housing delivery was going
to be accelerated and diversified and property ownership rights was to be
extended to all the people who qualify in terms of our beneficiary
criteria.
In accordance with the BNG strategy (also known as the National
Comprehensive Human Settlement Plan), the period spanning the 2005/2006
financial year provided us with an opportunity to work closely with communities
in addressing the 600 000 unit backlog on basic services and infrastructure so
that by 2009 the total transformation of the conditions of the majority of our
people is attained. This we said will be achieved in two ways, namely, the
formalisation of informal settlements and eradication of informal settlements
through the provision of basic services, infrastructure and top structure by
2009 and 2014 respectively.
Stemming from this commitment, we embarked on a registration and audit drive
of informal settlements in Gauteng. As a result we have been able to capture
data and document the nature, size and character of informal settlements found
in Gauteng. We now know that 392 informal settlements exist in Gauteng and
possibly about 70% of these can be upgraded into formal dwellings and the
remainder will be resettled in well-located land. In this financial year we
have serviced over 34 000 stands and constructed 15 000 houses in various areas
within the province.
In our quest to de-racialise human settlements and diversify housing
products which gives our people a wide scope of choice, we launched a
mixed-income housing project called the Cosmo City in the Northern part of
Johannesburg. Cosmo City is well on track with almost 1245 houses being
finalised. So far a total of 475 low cost houses that have been handed over to
their rightful owners. Currently there are 400 bonded units under construction
and occupation started in December 2005. Regarding low-cost housing, we aim to
build and complete about 5000 units by November 2007.
Besides housing development in this project, there are three schools
currently under construction two primaries and one secondary which are
programmes for completion in October 2006. Johannesburg City Parks have started
construction of three parks which have sports and recreational facilities. A
multi purpose Community Centre is currently being developed and will include
municipal offices, a sports field, swimming, library and other facilities. A
proposal for the development of a combined private and local clinic has been
submitted to City of Johannesburg. In the meantime we are providing temporary
clinics so that people can have access to health services.
The Premier, in his address in the legislature, alluded to the shift in
strategic direction for housing delivery and our commitment in enhancing and
speeding up the transformation of the living conditions of our people.
In implementing this approach, the department plans to service 23 121 stands
during 2006/7 financial year as part of upgrading identified informal
settlements and build 35 829 housing units in Greenfieldâs areas and previously
serviced stands. This will be achieved through the Community Builder Programme
(CBP), Peopleâs Housing Process and Formal Housing Programme. One of the
critical challenges that we are currently dealing with vigorously is to address
the waiting list especially targeting those beneficiaries that applied between
1996/97. We currently have 189 169 families who applied during this period, of
which 80 022 have been assisted. To date we have 590 232 on our housing demand
data base, of which 127 944 have been assisted.
The Premier has announced that 20 old established prioritised townships will
benefit through focused upgrading of social and economic infrastructure. The
programme is part of the comprehensive plan for the development of sustainable
human settlements and the underlying principle is to redress the inadequate
spatial development patterns of the past, to contribute towards the
sustainability of the identified areas and ensure that their urban form is
upgraded physically in a manner that improves living conditions of
residents.
In realising this programme, the Housing Department has developed one
integrated business plan for each of the identified townships. In this regard,
we have already commenced with registration of backyard shacks in 10 of the 20
old established townships identified, so far we have captured about 44 072
house holds and 75 362 backyard shacks captured. Once this exercise has been
completed, we will have an indication of how many households and shacks we have
and be able to plan better. As part of upgrading backyard shacks in the
identified townships, we have started piloting the construction of 1500 stands
in Orlando East in Soweto and Boipatong with three rooms of 11m2 with shower
and toilet of 3m2 scheduled to be finalised by February 2007. For example in
Munsiville we have developed a comprehensive redevelopment plan and this will
consist of Hostel redevelopment, building 475 houses within the Buffer Strip
Land, Upgrading of about 400 Backyard Shacks in Horse Shoe, Installation of
chemical toilets and communal facilities, installation of services and
construction of 698 houses in Ext 4 and 5 by April 2008.
With regard to our existing urban regeneration programme, we are on track
with our plans in all three focused areas of development â Alexandra, Evaton
and Bekkersdal. In Alexandra the greatest need is the availability of low cost
income houses and rental housing. Four key short term housing projects have
been identified and packaged since January 2005. All these projects are on land
identified within Alexandra and over the next months we will be in a process of
implementation. These are:
Ext 7-is currently under construction and will provide 1400 low cost income
houses and the first 200 will be available in March 2006. Tsutsumani infill
will provide for 500 low cost -income houses and this will be incorporated to
Ext 7 project.
K206 â is now at the planning stage and once completed will provide for 2000
low-cost income houses and the project is already underway since January 2006
and the occupation is expected to start by June 2006.
East Bank â the project is in detailed planning and will provide for 200
low-income houses and implementation is already underway since February
2006.
Land acquisition - three infill sites have been identified and are in close
proximity and owned by council and can be utilised for housing development.
These are Portion 31 Zandfontein, erf 54-57 Kelvin and erf 30 Edenberg. These
sites would be used for mixed housing developments that would include mixed
tenure options.
Limbro Park has also been identified with approximately 34 plots of 2
âhectare currently lying vacant area. The process to acquire the land is
already in motion and this can result in 5440 low income houses developed. A
budget of about R42 million has been set aside for land acquisition.
In Bekkersdal progress is well ahead and our focus is on upgrading major
infrastructure around the CBD and Taxi Rank area. The East and West Clinic
upgrade, relocation of affected households because of dolomite land,
installation of high mast lights and waste management programme is underway and
it will be completed by June 2006.
In Evaton, the resealing of streets in areas such as Lakeside, Easton, Adams
Union and Sterling Roads has begun and expected to be finalised by 31 March
2006. The construction of surfaced roads in Union Road, Falcon and Lake Circle
has also begun with almost 40% of the work completed. Installation of road
traffic signs, road markings and street names signs is under-way and 85% of the
work completed. Infrastructure projects focusing on sewer network, sanitation
has been done in three primary schools.
We have segmented all hostels into seven (7) geographic clusters for
conversion into Affordable Rental Accommodation (ARA). Emergency interventions
for 54 hostels has commenced for the upgrade and conversion of these facilities
into habitable and sustainable ones. To date we have fully converted five
hostels into family units and this bears testimony to our commitment to
transform hostels and integrate them into local communities. Our target for the
next financial year is to target eight hostels in areas such as Diepkloof,
Alexandra, Mamelodi Buyafuthi and we will be able to reach our target of
rehabilitating all our hostels by 2009. We are revisiting our Social Housing
approach in order to ensure that ordinary people and those earning below
certain levels have access to affordable rental accommodation in decent housing
and living conditions next to areas of employment. In this regard the Kliptown
Housing Development project is well on track and the first occupation will take
place by end of February 2006.
To ensure the restoration of dignity of our people we resolved last year to
speed up the process of issuing of title deeds through the Transfer of Rental
Properties (TORPS) and Regulation and Transfer of Ownership (RETRO)
sub-programmes. By December 2005 a total of 15,391 properties were transferred
through TORPS and the target is to transfer 20 000 properties by March 2006.
For 2006/7 financial year we plan to transfer another 20 000 properties. With
regard to RETRO sub-programme 6 700 properties have been transferred by
December 2005 and we aim to finalise the programme by December 2006.
In our constant endeavour to improve the quality of housing products, the
Department in conjunction with NHBRC will be experimenting with alternative
building technology. In this regard we have approved a pilot project consisting
of 200 stands in Thorntree View, Tshwane, in which houses with a floor area of
45m2 using the full subsidy amount of R39 929 will be constructed.
Above all, the Gauteng Department of Housing has expended almost 76% of its
allocated Integrated Housing and Human Settlement Grant by the end of the third
quarter. This demonstrates the departmentâs ability to deliver since most of
its output targets have been exceeded.
To promote the Public-Private-Partnership strategy, we initiated the Gauteng
Partnership Fund (GPF) agency, which amongst other things, is tasked with the
improvement of residential buildings as well as the construction of housing
units in the inner city in partnership with the private sector. For 2006/7
financial year the GPF will invest R107million in the social housing
sector.
This investment will also be used to provide a bridging facility in
partnership with the Trust for Urban Housing Fund (TUHF) for small entrepreneur
landlords to acquire buildings for refurbishment in Gauteng.
GPF has also entered into partnership with the French Development Agency and
Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to provide funding for
pre-feasibility funding for various housing projects in Gauteng. This funding
will ease up the burden on government to provide a portion of the housing
subsidy for planning.
In short, we have been able to transform and improve the quality of life of
our people within two decades of the new democracy and we are still forging
ahead with our expressed mission of bringing more tangible changes in all the
areas where our people live and work. The Department of Housing will continue
to seek more innovative ways to confront problems and challenges that we are
facing in the delivery of houses and other essential services to
communities.
For more information please contact:
Mongezi Mnyani
Cell: 082 602 5358
Issued by: Department of Housing, Gauteng Provincial Government
15 February 2006
