Central SA
Over a billion allocated to address North West housing backlogs─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 08:49 Wed, 15 Mar 2023
Over R1 billion has been allocated to deal with housing backlogs in the North West province.
This is according to the Cooperative Governance and Human Settlements MEC in the province, Nono Maloyi, during the legislature sitting in the Ngaka Molema Modiri District on Tuesday.
Maloyi revealed that R1.4 billion will be allocated to finish delayed housing projects. This was after his department, working together with the National Home Builders Registration Council, conducted an audit of all blocked and incomplete housing projects in the province.
Former MEC for Human Settlements Lenah Miga previously stated that the department is in the process of unblocking 247 units of blocked projects last year. This after explaining that Covid-19 was one of the reasons that had impacted the progress of some of these projects, as materials became pricy and some developers were liquidated because of poor performance.
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Members of the Portfolio Committee previously called on the department to ensure that there are enough subsidies to ensure that developers start and complete departmental projects on time. Following the portfolio committee's visit to Kopela Village in the Tswaing Local Municipality last year, the chairperson of the committee, Aaron Motswana, requested the North West Human Settlements Department to enforce consequence management on non-performing developers.
Meanwhile, Maloyi revealed that his department has since terminated contractors who did not finish housing projects in the North West.
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“At Deelpan, where the tribal authority donated land for relocation, we are working with the Housing Development Agency to conduct a geo-tech study to check if it is possible to build an RDP house there and we'll identify the beneficiaries. The department, together with the Office of the Premier, has also engaged the Department of Water and Sanitation to use any water grants to finish any water and sanitation projects so that our people can have water,” Maloyi concluded.
