R26m to be spent on Pinelands housing project

THE provincial Human Settlements Department will spend R25.9 million of its budget to speed the Conradie better living model project in Pinelands and create jobs during the current financial year.

In September, Transport and Public Works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela announced construction had started on the first phase of housing at the site.

Human Settlements MEC Tertius Simmers told the legislature that the money had been “moved forward from the 2021/22 financial year to this financial year” after an agreement was reached with the developers to accelerate the installation of bulk infrastructure at the site.

Speaking during the Department of Human Settlement’s adjustment appropriation bill 2020 vote, Simmers said: “This will further ensure that more jobs are created, while the construction programme for this project is also being accelerated.”

He said: “As part of our adjustment, we’ve allocated R19m to municipalities to accelerate housing opportunities. R10m is allocated to the Saldanha Bay municipality for the Langebaan

Seaview Park extension, while R9m is allocated to the Hessequa municipality for bulk services of the Melkhoutfontein project.

“In addition to this a further R16.8m from the department’s own revenue has been allocated to infrastructure projects, which directly ensures that jobs are protected in the construction industry,” said Simmers.

Rejecting the vote, ANC provincial Human Settlements spokesperson Andile Lili said: “The DA is misleading the public through the implementation of the Conradie better living model.”

Lili said: “In these adjustments he said an amount of R25.9m has been brought forward from the 2021/22 to the 2020/21 financial year to accelerate delivery of bulk infrastructure. However this is the brainchild of Helen Zille and since 2015 millions of rand have been thrown into a bottomless pit, with no top structures to show for it.

“Up until now, this government has not been able to give straight answers to the question of when houses will be built at Conradie and when people will start to occupy them.

“The Conradie site project and other related projects are the DA’s gate-keeping mechanisms to keep the poor out of the inner city,” said Lili.