Responding to a call to prioritise rural development, MEC for Housing Mrs Nombulelo Mabandla will launch three housing projects in Mbizana local municipality that will provide homes to over a thousand rural beneficiaries in Mbizana over the next two years. She will launch the projects in Mbizana local municipality on Friday, 10 July 2009 as part of her rural housing provision.
The provincial housing backlog is estimated at 797 932. Of this number
* 26% of the housing backlog represents informal dwellings
* 6% of the housing backlog being backyard shacks
* 68% of the housing backlog entailing traditional dwellings, which according to Statistics South Africa are regarded as inadequate.
Rural households are poorer than urban households with many dependent on the state transfer in the form of pensions, welfare grants and income poverty relief and development projects for survival. These figures will guide the department in executing and accelerating rural housing during this term of government.
The projects to be launched include 800 houses already completed and now installing internal services, 100 under construction and a further 600 houses falling under new projects still to be constructed.
Over R40 million rands has been allocated in all these projects for Mbizana area.
Contact: Lwandile Sicwetsha
Cell: 071 6711770
E-mail: lwandileS@echousing.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Housing, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
8 July 2009
