Departmental interventions of providing technical and financial support to emerging housing contractors could end the housing rectification programme costing R369 million rands to rectify 20 000 defective government built homes in the province.
The latest intervention is a two day conference aimed at addressing problems encountered by emerging contractors on housing projects and prevents shoddy workmanship. The conference will be convened by MEC Nombulelo Mabandla on Monday, 19 to 20 April 2010 in East London. “This conference is a culmination of a series of departmental interventions to provide assistance to emerging contractors responsible for housing construction in the province with an expectation of producing quality homes for our beneficiaries,” Mabandla said.
She said the department has already awarded construction work of government houses worth R24 million rands to seventeen emerging contractors who recently graduated from a construction management training course arranged by the department with Nelson Mandela Metro University. “These emerging contractors are currently building 430 housing units in Mt Pleasant Project in Fort Beaufort and Transit Camp Project (Makana). This represents an average of 25 housing units per emerging contractor,” she concluded.
Another 220 housing units have been set aside for construction by local emerging contractors in the Makana Municipality. The contractors include two disabled, two youth and five women run construction companies. Already 398 housing units have been set aside for emerging contractors in Alfred Nzo region.
More than 200 emerging construction companies registered with National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) and Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading councils will attend the conference.
Participating associations on the conference will include National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NAFCOC), women in construction, youth in construction and military veterans including public financial institutions and material suppliers from across the province who will provide input on providing assistance to emerging contractors.
Enquiries:
Lwandile Sicwetsha
Cell: 071 671 1770 or 079 873 6400
Issued by: Department of Human Settlement, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
14 April 2010