Residents left in the cold
Delays in a RDP housing development in Delft has frustrated recipients
BLIKKIESDORP residents are frustrated that a housing development in Delft is still not completed and they are preparing to confront the City and developer at a meeting tomorrow. They say the RDP houses in The Hague, Delft, have been standing half completed for years and they don’t know what the delay is.
John Peterson lives with his grand and great grandchildren in a corrugated iron shack in Blikkiesdorp.
Peterson said a foundation for his house was built five years ago, but no other construction work had been done since and he continued to live in a shack .
He said he was among the first people in the area who applied for an RDP house.
“I have lost all hope, especially now that I have difficulties with my health.
“I can’t sleep at night due to my health. The cold in these shacks is unbearable.”
Blikkiesdorp community leader Waleed Heyn said: “They were promised 2 207 houses to be built in Delft, only 100 houses were built, and some are still unfinished.
“These people keep changing building constructors without progress.”
The chairperson of the project steering committee in Delft, Jonathan Jooste, said he was angry and furious about the delays and vandalism.
“I am sick and tired of this housing project that seems to be going no where. “Everyday we are called into a meeting by different people, including Dukes Gumede, who deals with the new housing project in Delft.
“Different contractors come and go and nothing seems to be progressing in these houses, instead we suffer from spending our valuable time in their meetings.”
One of the project steering committee members, who is also a housing beneficiary, Oswald Jacobs said he was renting a tworoom house because he waited for more than four years.
“Criminals stay in these unfinished structures, even our children play there, what if these structures fall on them?
“If they don’t want to build these houses, they must just demolish these structures.”
Mayco member for transport and urban development Brett Herron said the housing development in Delft consisted of three phases – Roosendal (288 units) completed in August 2016; Hague phase 1 (1 012 units) that is under way; and Hague phase 2 and Eindhoven (1 100 units).
He said The Hague phase 1 was delayed by the contractor which performed poorly and was terminated in September last year.
Another contractor has been appointed since February.
“We sincerely regret the delays caused by the poor performance of our contractors.
“Termination of a contractor and then procuring a replacement contractor is a complex process highly regulated by legislation.” THURSDAY JUNE 21 2018
‘I HAVE LOST ALL HOPE, ESPECIALLY NOW THAT I HAVE DIFFICULTIES WITH MY HEALTH. I CAN’T SLEEP’