R36m project for Masi families
Cape Town - A housing project to accommodate 227 families in Masiphumelele is under way, says the City of Cape Town.
|||Cape Town - A housing project to accommodate 227 families in Masiphumelele is under way, says the City of Cape Town.
But qualifying families will have to wait until 2018 for keys for the houses, Mayco member for human settlements Benedicta van Minnen said.
The R36 million project will be advertised mid-year next year as the City is still in the process of applying for technical approval and preparing tender documents for advertising.
The allocation process is expected to be agreed upon by the steering project committee by looking at the applicants on the database within the targeted area, households from informal settlements within the targeted area, applicants with special needs, and applicants earliest on the database across the City.
Van Minnen said the City’s policy dictates that the project steering committee must agree on and recommend an allocation split which is ultimately approved by the executive directorate of the City’s human settlements department.
“Broadly speaking it means that all potential housing beneficiaries must be registered on the City’s housing database and such allocations will be done in application date order,” said Van Minnen.
But community leaders in the area and residents living in Masiphumelele Wetlands, whose houses were destroyed by a fire a month ago said the houses should be built speedily.
Masiphumelele Wetlands community leader Thembani Kula said the housing project was never communicated to them.
“We welcome the idea to build houses to ease so many informal structures in the area, but the plans need to be communicated to us to avoid conflicts. It is unfair that we have to hear about these things from the media, so unfortunate,” said Kula.
He said he would arrange a meeting with the area’s ward councillor to find out more information about the project.
Meanwhile, residents in Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay, where about 1 300 people were left homeless after a fire ravaged the area on Saturday night, were on Wednesday busy erecting structures with building material provided by the City.
Fire victim Sandile Nkonde, 27, said he started rebuilding his house, which he shares with his wife Ntombethemba, 24, and their two children, on Wednesday.
“By New Year’s Day I should be sleeping in this house, but will have to work very hard to buy furniture for the house,” he said.
sandiso.phaliso@inl.co.za
@PhalisoSandiso
Cape Times
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