Municipalities set to develop housing plans

METRO municipalities are set to develop their own housing plans by June 2018 should government gets its way on a new housing proposal.

Government has plans to completely transfer housing delivery in urban areas to the metro municipalities.

The Western Cape government already signed a memorandum of agreement with the City of Cape Town to deliver houses in the metro.

Speaking on the sidelines of his department’s annual report presentation, Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said his department would remain responsible for housing delivery in areas outside of the metro.

“As an MEC I will still be responsible for the work outside of the metro as the capacity (in those areas) is still a challenge,” he said.

Section 126 of the constitution and section 10 of Municipal Systems Act will be pivotal in the new plans, Madikizela said.

“This process started more than two years ago. The City got level 3 accreditation, which means that they can now administer all housing projects in their municipal area. A process was started for all metro municipalities in the country,” he said.

Madikizela said there were still matters to clear up before anything would be approved.

“Treasury will give the money, we will sign off on the city’s housing plans and maintain an oversight role,” he said.

Mayor Patricia de Lille, in a previous statement, said the move would lead to more effective planning and the establishment of a more responsive pipeline of projects.

“This development is in line with the objectives of the City’s Organisational Development and Transformation Plan to enhance service delivery and become more a proactive and customer-centric administration,” she said.