Deputy Minister Andries Nel meets with Minister Xavier Torres of Ecuador in Germany
The Deputy Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Andries Nel met with Xavier Torres, Minister for Housing and Urban Development in Ecuador on the side-lines of the 12th Federal Congress on National Urban Development Policy.
The two leaders discussed amongst others, housing delivery and urbanisation (within the context of national urban policy). Minister Torres shared some of their challenges in the delivery of housing which were made worse by the two earthquakes that ravaged their country and impacted their housing delivery programme negatively.
Minister Torres was therefore keen to understand the housing delivery programme of South Africa including the types of houses that are being delivered to communities and how these are funded.
An area of mutual interest was how both countries could both countries could learn from one another on the typology of houses that are being delivered especially in areas where indigenous communities live in Ecuador and in rural areas and traditional areas in South Africa. Deputy Minister Nel provided background and context within which SA implements its housing programme.
Some of the common challenges both countries have in the area of housing delivery are on the development of houses in the periphery of urban centres which often has negative implication to integrated planning. It also emerged that access to strategically located urban land for housing delivery was another challenge that both Ecuador and SA have in common.
Deputy Minister Nel provided context and perspective on the issue of land reform in South Africa with a specific focus on the importance of urban land reform. He emphasized the importance of SA land reform process being discussed within the framework of the Constitution. Deputy Minister Nel emphasised that land reform will be implemented with due respect of the provisions of the Constitution of the country.
He emphasised the importance of the Urban Development Framework as South Africa’s national urban policy that informs and guides human settlements within the broader context of urbanisation.
Deputy Minster Nel also provided a brief evolution of the IUDF and its implementation to date and he also acknowledged the significance of Quito hosting the UN Habitat III Conference and adopting the New Urban Agenda.
The meeting was concluded with Deputy Minister Nel inviting Ecuador to South Africa to engage further on housing issues and the Integrated Urban Development Framework.
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