City housing project blow
‘It would be reckless to just leave that work incomplete and vulnerable’
THE City’s budget for a multimillion-rand Valhalla Park housing project meant to benefit more than 700 people – some of them victims of devastating fires that left hundreds homeless – has been reallocated to other projects.
This R43 million project, in the pipeline since 2013, was halted after gangsters allegedly threatened contractors at gunpoint and held them hostage.
Two arrests were made in a hijacking case related to a subcontractor’s vehicle, but this has since been withdrawn, police said.
Work commenced in February 2016 and completion planned for September 2017.
The development was to accommodate 777 beneficiaries from the City’s housing waiting list, with construction of top structures planned for 2018.
The City says 85% of the civil engineering infrastructure was completed before the contractor pulled out, fearing for their safety.
They were forced out of the area after gangsters allegedly demanded a “protection fee”.
Mayor Patricia de Lille vowed last year the City would not negotiate with or give into the “extortion attempts” by criminals, but would do everything they could to navigate their way out of the delay.
Transport and urban development Mayco member Brett Herron said some of the funding was deferred to other financial years, given the unpredictability of the work on site. He said the project still has some funding allocated to it on this year’s budget.
“We have not been complacent about completing the Valhalla Park project at all. We have completed 85% of the civil services and it would be reckless to just leave that work incomplete and vulnerable.
“We have identified three contractors who are able to assist us to fast-track completion of the services and the houses – with a plan to work with all three at the same time.”
He said law enforcement and metro police departments have come up with a security plan.
“The security plan requires substantial funding and we need to be sure that, in committing that extra funding and giving the three contractors the go-ahead to start on site again, the contractual commitments will not once again be jeopardised by crime threats.
“We are thus looking at starting with a term tender contractor to complete the services and at the same time test the security plan.”
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said Bishop Lavis police were on standby to lend assistance when work resumes at the building site in future.
Police in Bishop Lavis were informed about the situation unfolding on the Valhalla Park housing site, he said, and police visibility was stepped up.
“An officially marked police patrol vehicle, with two uniformed members, was placed on the building site from 6am till 6pm on the corner of Valhalla Drive and Jakkalsvlei Avenue,” said Van Wyk.
He said a meeting was held with the contractors and the Bishop Lavis SAPS in June 2016, when the SAPS were informed the contractors would stop building houses until further notice.
About 120 homes were destroyed in the informal settlement and hundreds of people left homeless when a fire ripped through 7de Laan in Valhalla Park last year.
In 2013, 1 300 people were left destitute after a fire destroyed more than 300 shacks.
The body of six-year-old Brita Douglas Trompetter was discovered in a hole on the construction site in June 2016, the Bishop Lavis community policing forum said.
“He drowned in one of the holes that was left opened there. Nobody knew where the child was for days.
“This site was not secured for the fact that children can enter,” said the forum’s chairperson, Graham Lindhorst.
He said the people that suffered the most were the beneficiaries of the housing project, who also include backyard dwellers.
“Our view is that the City is not really assisting in bringing the community fully on board. It is disappointing that the budget has now been allocated elsewhere.
“We were under the impression that the money is still there. It feels like they are taking what is due to these people away,” he said.