delivery
24 July 2007
Gauteng MEC for Housing Nomvula Mokonyane has called on stakeholders
attending the Housing Summit in Ekurhuleni today to review key issues that are
currently slowing down delivery of housing in the province.
These include allocation of subsidies to individuals as opposed to projects,
red tape involved in the approval of projects as well as lack of co-coordinated
intergovernmental strategies to improve customer service at the majority of
government's service points.
The two day summit held under the theme 'Building a Global City Region
through Sustainable Human Settlements Beyond 2009' aims to, among other things,
create a platform for discussions on the latest models in housing development,
draw lessons (both positive and negative) from previous strategies applied in
Gauteng and internationally and evaluate the current housing policies and
strategic direction of the Department as well as lay the foundation for a new
strategic direction in the creation of sustainable human settlements in
Gauteng.
Mokonyane said the current policy in which housing beneficiaries were linked
to a subsidy was causing a number of problems as there are numerous incidents
of missing beneficiaries in the province due to constant movement of people.
She argued that the department has achieved tremendous success in projects such
as the Alexandra K206 where housing beneficiaries are currently being allocated
according to a block.
"Our expectation from this summit is to ensure that we consolidate our plans
and accelerate housing delivery to overcome the current backlog. There is no
reason why the department should remain married to policies and systems that
are not assisting in fast tracking service delivery," added Mokonyane.
When commenting about red-tape, the MEC noted that the housing delivery
process from planning to implementation is unnecessarily long and slows housing
delivery. The department has reviewed the entire delivery process in order to
implement projects speedily.
With regards to service delivery Mokonyane said "We need public servants
that must be aware that any incompetence undermines the integrity of
government. Where public servants resist in going the extra mile, government
priorities and targets are compromised."
Mokonyane said the summit was faced with a number of challenges to tackle
key housing obstacles including the need to deal with uneven capacity within
municipalities to deliver houses, migration levels into the province, improving
the capacity of small and medium contractors, centralised planning and
strengthening of public private partnerships for mixed housing
developments.
Mokonyane also announced that the department has taken a decision to stretch
the subsidy band from between R3 500 and R7 000 to R10 000. This move will
enable more people who fall into the low income category to qualify for
government subsidies when buying houses through the banks that have partnered
with the department.
For more information contact:
Mongezi Mnyani
Cell: 082 602 5358
Mandla Sidu
Cell: 083 602 6169
Issued by: Department of Housing, Gauteng Provincial Government
24 July 2007
Source: SAPA
