Housing Minister Brigitte Mabandla officially opened a slums clearance project in the eThekwini (Durban) municipality on Tuesday. Keys were handed to some of the 1 216 new homeowners located in the Welbedacht West area. It is one of six main areas that stand to benefit from the slum clearance housing project, which began in 2001 and has, to date, cost almost R218m to implement. "The settlements selected have been earmarked for complete relocation for a variety of reasons such as the threat of flooding, major environmental health risks, unstable land, fire risks and the size of the settlement which may be too small to be feasible for an upgrade project," said Mabandla.
She said project beneficiaries would receive their subsidies from the department of housing, as well as a substantial top-up from eThekwini municipality to ensure that adequate levels of service - such as tarred bus routes, sewer reticulation, water and electricity to each household - were provided. "Houses have been constructed in terms of the housing department's minimum norms and standards, which provide for a 30m² house," said Mabandla. All projects with the exception of Namibia Stop 8 in Inanda were at an advanced stage of construction.
The 10 869 houses and sites was anticipated to be a three-year construction programme, with the construction of houses and services almost 60& complete. Welbedacht East and West, as well as Parkgate, are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2004.
Meanwhile, eThekwini mayor Obed Mlaba said his council had committed itself to funding services and had contributed about R70m to achieve this. "The council has pursued a policy of bridge financing the development to ensure rapid delivery of housing and services," said Mlaba at Tuesday's handover. He said that, according to the eThekwini council's informal settlement programme, proposed housing interventions had been divided into four categories. These were in-situ upgrade; relocation; partial in-situ upgrade and partial relocation; and approved in-situ upgrade housing projects.
In phase one of the slums clearance project, a total of 3 500 informal households will need to be relocated from 10 settlements.
Source: News 24
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