MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements, Collen Maine, has committed his department to build homes and further ensure that beneficiaries became owners of those properties. MEC Maine made this commitment when delivering his departmental budget speech at the North West Legislature on Wednesday.
According to MEC Maine, the department will focus on eradicating informal settlements where 6 888 housing units will be constructed in this financial year for informal settlement upgrading.
“We want to create access to clean water and decent sanitation and provision of tenure to the beneficiaries. We are doing this in order to achieve our objective, and bring comfort to our people living in informal settlements across the province. Thus far we managed to build about 4538 through the Informal Settlements Upgrading in the last financial year,” said MEC Maine.
MEC Maine went on to inform the Legislature that, work has already started in mining towns. He said that about 2 000 housing units will be built in the next three years in the Marikana Extension 2 Integrated Development Project which is implemented in partnership with LONMIN and Rustenburg local municipality. The first phase of 292 Breaking New Grounds units which is already under construction and 252 community residential units are planned for this financial year and contractors are already on site.
The department will further hand over 6 900 title deeds to household owners, across the province.
“We acknowledge that there is a backlog of eradicating title deeds and that efforts will be doubled to make sure that we win the battle of making sure that communities own their properties”, he conceded, adding that the department will use hundred percent of its conditional grant in this financial year.
The department is expected to spend more than 1.5 billion rand in this financial year in housing development.
Enquiries:
Ben Bole, Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 071 566 1399
Tel: 018 388 4824
Fax: 018 391 0328
E-mail: msbole@nwpg.gov.za
