The City of Cape Town is running out of council-owned land to sell and release and could soon be unable to generate income from land sales, meet the demand for social responsibility projects or provide basic services.
The situation is so critical that a moratorium on the processing of transactions involving council-owned land could be on the cards.
"It is obvious that at the rate the city has been disposing of its assets over the past few years and not acquiring at the same rate, the city faces a predicament (with) a declining asset base (and) no strategy on how to grow its portfolio of assets," Ruby Gelderbloem, of the city's property management department, said in a report to the mayoral committee.
Staff shortages and organisational changes in the property management department have been blamed for the poor management of the city's property portfolio.
Simon Grindrod, mayoral committee member for economic development, said the matter was "critical".
"The day may come when we have sold all our assets and not acquired any new ones."
Gelderbloem said that with the changes in the city's political leadership, the department's executive leadership had changed four times in three years.
"(This) environment compelled the department to stay in 'a mode of continuous adaptation', hampering the formulation of a clear strategic plan that would pave the way for the effective management of council's immovable assets."
This led to unreasonable demands, poor performance and confusion about roles and responsibilities. An "exodus of staff who performed key functions" had made it more difficult for the department to perform.
The city had allocated funds to fill some critical vacancies, but a "new dilemma" had arisen as staff were applying for these posts, creating other vacancies.
"The shortage of skilled personnel... severely limits the ability of the department to improve on its turnaround time in the processing of applications for land and rights in land."
The department was to develop a strategic plan that would need "bold thinking and decisions on the reservation and use of council-owned land".
Gelderbloem said two of the biggest metros had placed a moratorium on the processing of property transactions.
"The question should be asked... whether the city should be cautious in deciding about property transactions while formulating a strategy and assessing (its) property portfolio." - Cape Times
The situation is so critical that a moratorium on the processing of transactions involving council-owned land could be on the cards.
"It is obvious that at the rate the city has been disposing of its assets over the past few years and not acquiring at the same rate, the city faces a predicament (with) a declining asset base (and) no strategy on how to grow its portfolio of assets," Ruby Gelderbloem, of the city's property management department, said in a report to the mayoral committee.
Staff shortages and organisational changes in the property management department have been blamed for the poor management of the city's property portfolio.
Simon Grindrod, mayoral committee member for economic development, said the matter was "critical".
"The day may come when we have sold all our assets and not acquired any new ones."
Gelderbloem said that with the changes in the city's political leadership, the department's executive leadership had changed four times in three years.
"(This) environment compelled the department to stay in 'a mode of continuous adaptation', hampering the formulation of a clear strategic plan that would pave the way for the effective management of council's immovable assets."
This led to unreasonable demands, poor performance and confusion about roles and responsibilities. An "exodus of staff who performed key functions" had made it more difficult for the department to perform.
The city had allocated funds to fill some critical vacancies, but a "new dilemma" had arisen as staff were applying for these posts, creating other vacancies.
"The shortage of skilled personnel... severely limits the ability of the department to improve on its turnaround time in the processing of applications for land and rights in land."
The department was to develop a strategic plan that would need "bold thinking and decisions on the reservation and use of council-owned land".
Gelderbloem said two of the biggest metros had placed a moratorium on the processing of property transactions.
"The question should be asked... whether the city should be cautious in deciding about property transactions while formulating a strategy and assessing (its) property portfolio." - Cape Times
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