Update of George municipal RDP housing projects underway

Responding to the George Herald’s query regarding the provision of RDP housing in George, projects in the pipeline and the prioritising of projects, as well as the handling of the housing list, George Municipality provided the following information:

RDP housing projects

Several RDP housing projects are underway in George, namely:

Golden Valley (165 housing opportunities)

UISP Thembalethu (the upgrading of informal settlements programme - 700 opportunities)

Erf 325 East (±2 000 opportunities) Metro Grounds (671 opportunities)

UISP Thembalethu

The 700 houses in Thembalethu

(above) refer to the current number of subsidies approved by the Western Cape department of human settlements, only for beneficiaries of the Thembalethu upgrading of informal settlements programme. These houses will be built for the most deserving qualifying beneficiaries, according to the guidelines set by the department. The total number of houses in the Thembalethu UISP will be determined by the funding provided by the department and cannot be confirmed at this stage.

To date, 228 of the 700 houses have been handed over to the beneficiaries. Another 281 of the 700 houses have been awarded to contractors to construct. The subsidy applications are still underway and as the beneficiaries qualify, contractors will be appointed to build the houses.

Golden Valley

The Golden Valley Housing project comprises 165 housing opportunities. A total of 140 top structures will be built and 25 enhanced serviced sites will be made available to persons earning more that R3 500 per month but less than

R7 000. Two contractors have been appointed to construct the houses and construction can only commence once the NHBRC (National Home Builders Registration Council) registration has been finalised.

Metro Grounds Housing Project

The Metro Grounds Housing Project comprises about 671 housing opportunities which will be top structures as well as serviced sites for beneficiaries earning more that R3 500 per month but less than R7 000. A bid specification meeting was to take place on 8 August, whereafter the tender is to be advertised. Beneficiary administration is underway.

Erf 325 East

Two contractors have been appointed, namely Messrs Raubex and Asla, and construction of civil services will commence once all statutory processes have been completed. A total of 1 104 opportunities will be available in these two phases (A and C). The third phase (Phase B ) is in the procurement stage and will be finalised soon.

One consolidated housing list

There is only one consolidated waiting list for the whole George municipal area, on which 18 628 people are currently registered. All allocations are done according to the date of application.

The housing list contains confidential details of citizens who have registered with the George Municipality. In terms of the Popi Act No 4 of 2013 (Protection of Personal Information Act) these details cannot be made public.

National government function

Schedule 4 of the Constitution stipulates that housing is a function of national and provincial governments. The finance for housing development is therefore provided by National Government, through Provincial Government, but the management of the implementation of housing projects has become the responsibility of local government. Because of the resources required to take on this responsibility, this is often referred to as an under-funded or unfunded mandate, which are mandates or responsibilities where a sphere of government performs certain functions or activities for which they do not have any clear delegated authority or funds.

George Municipality is therefore the implementing agency for the roll-out of housing projects and the provision of houses is subject to the availability of suitable land as well as funding provided by Western Cape Department of Human Settlements.