Thursday, October 19, 2006

We need more houses, cement / or other construction options

If South Africa wants to tackle its housing backlog, delivery will have to double and cement imports — already under pressure — will have to increase, the director general of the SA housing department said on Thursday.

According to Irumuleng Kotsoane, the current delivery rate of some 250,000 is not enough to both remove the backlog of around 2.4 million housing units, and to fulfill the supply to new urban residents.

He said at least 500,000 units will have to be built per year.

Massive challenge

He acknowledged, at a media briefing at Parliament, that the pressure to deliver so many housing units — and to reach the target of removing all informal settlements by 2014 — would be a significant challenge given that South Africa had also embarked on a massive capital investment drive to improve infrastructure including transport infrastructure. Business.IAfrica.com

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