Within a year, Makana will hand over municipal land to residents who don't qualify for RDP houses but can afford to build their own.
Within a year, Makana will hand over municipal land to residents who don't qualify for RDP houses but can afford to build their own.
Mayor Zamuxolo Peter announced this as construction company Upahla vowed they would meet their deadline to finish 1 000 houses for the Mayfield Phase 2 housing project by December.
At a stakeholders' meeting last week, Upahla director Luan Schutte said the company was already ahead of their target of 125 houses a month.
Meanwhile, working class residents who don't meet the criteria for RDP houses will benefit from a move to allocate land for them to build their own houses.
"Within this year we need to set aside land for people who can afford to build houses for themselves. We need to redress the challenge of land ownership," Peter said, though he was not specific about which land, or when or on what basis it would be handed over.
He was addressing Makana councillors and officials and representatives from Cacadu District Municipality's Human Settlements department and Uphahla.
Citing the Transit Camp housing project as an example of how the current project should not proceed, he spoke of his recent visit there.
"We were there in Transit Camp last week and the residents are very angry. Houses are not complete and 440 houses are not connected to sanitation. We cannot allow this to happen again and I hope the [new]developer has learnt from this," the Mayor said.
In December Makana finally dumped contractors Toro Ya Afrika, who were appointed by Human Settlements in 2010 to build 176 low-cost houses in Eluxolweni.
The municipality was forced to set aside R2 million from its capital budget to appoint new contractors to complete outstanding work on the Transit Camp and Eluxolweni housing projects.
At last week's meeting the Mayor said the problems at Transit Camp must be attended to quickly.
Upahla was appointed in November by the provincial department of Human Settlements to complete housing projects in Makana Municipality, with the target of 1 000 houses by the end of the year.
Schutte said the company had employed Makana residents. "Currently we are installing sewerage and water and our target is to be finished with this by the end of June 2013," Schutte said.
"One of the objectives is to build quality homes for the beneficiaries – no shortcuts."
The construction company aims to build 125 houses a month and Schutte said they were already ahead of their target. "Our target is to finish in December," he said. Ward 4 councillor Lena May told the meeting that she hoped the municipality would implement the plan to set aside land for middle-class income earners. "This has been mentioned for several years and has not been implemented," May said. "We hope that people will get quality houses because Extension 9 was a disaster. It is important that the foundation of the houses is correct," May said. Peter said he hoped councillors would not interfere with the work of the construction company. Peter explained that the municipality had terminated its contract with Toro ya Africa. "When a contractor or developer is not performing, we (as the municipality) get a bad name," the Mayor said.
It has been a long wait for Mayfield houses:
August 2008
After a three-year wait, the municipality's housing application is accepted by the National Department of Housing for Mayfield, Fort Brown (200 houses), Transit Camp (440 houses), Seven Fountains and Fingo Village (500 houses).
October 2009
Ward councillors are given a month to update their waiting lists for houses, so Makana's Land and Housing portfolio committee can allocate them among the different wards.
January 2010
Contractors say they are running behind schedule because of bad weather and unexpectedly rocky soil, but they expect to finish digging trenches and installing bulk sewerage lines in and around Mayfield by the end of February 2010.
October 2010
The draft plan for the Mayfield housing development is presented by the Department of Human Settlements and Makana Municipality at an Infrastructure and Development forum. The groundbreaking plan promises 1 684 mixed residential units, with RDP houses, flats, semi-detached units and single-storey houses all part of the complex.
The layout provides for four primary and two secondary schools, as well as a community health centre, churches, businesses, a community hall and crèches. Construction is scheduled to start in January 2011 and finish by December 2012.
Makana says it has around 14 150 residents waiting for RDP houses and that the list will be screened by the provincial department of Human Settlements.
December 2010
Makana's Land and Housing portfolio committee proposes allocating R4 million to help address the housing backlog. Deputy director of Planning and Land Usage Renier van der Merwe says the area north of Hooggenoeg and west of Mayfield Phase 2 has been earmarked
. "It is estimated that maybe 9 000-11 000 erven can be fitted [in that area]," Van der Merwe says.
March 2011
Then municipal manager Ntombi Baart promises that by the end of June 2011 all Makana's stalled developments will be up and running, thanks to a new way to fast-track procurement and so speed up service-delivery.
Previously only goods and services valued at R20 000 or less could be bought on quotations rather than by tender. This threshold was increased to R200 000.
December 2011
Ward councillors are instructed to identify people to benefit from the Mayfield development.
Mayor Zamuxolo Peter says he's thrilled the development is finally happening as they'd been awaiting approval to increase the number of residential units.
"The surveyor will come in to allocate the sites and start dealing with the infrastructure and roads," he tells Grocott's Mail.
November 2012
A contractor is finally appointed for the Mayfield Phase 2 project, but the municipality warns that it will be at least three more years before the homes are ready to move into.
Director of Technical and Infrastructure Services Thembinkosi Myalato says expenditure that financial year would be around R30 million.
"For the 2012/13 financial year we are hoping to do 1 000 installations of bulk water, sewerage and roads. Then we are going to do 100 top structures [houses]. Another 900 top structures will be done in the 2013/14 financial year," Myalato said.
He estimated the cost of the entire project at R221 578 000. Makana aimed to have addressed the housing backlog by 2016.
February 2013
Municipal officials step in when workers at the Mayfield project down tools, complaining of low or late pay, no drinking water, and no toilets.
Makana negotiated an increased rate for the workers, and a representative from the constructions company, Upahla, warned that their costs would increase as a result.
"We take this project very seriously," Makana spokesperson Mncedisi Boma says. "We want to facilitate a workable solution so that the project is not delayed."
