Political change in the province has led to the city council and the provincial government agreeing on the city being given access to land for emergency use for flood victims and being granted accreditation as a housing developer.
While accreditation would be finalised next month, the city would from today start using tracts of provincial land for the council's winter readiness programme, mayoral committee member for housing Shehaam Sims said.
An agreement struck at Friday's meeting between Sims, new Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela and officials from their departments, followed DA leader Helen Zille's move to the legislature as premier.
The meeting also decided that a task team of city and provincial officials would be set up to ensure that day-to-day housing issues were addressed efficiently.
"Land for emergency use has already been identified, and by Monday will be ready for use. There are areas which will have a serious impact on people because municipal services could not be provided immediately, but these will be installed after people have moved on to the land," Sims said yesterday, adding that zoning had already been done.
She said accreditation meant the city could now approach the national government directly for funding. This would result in less red tape and a marked decrease in the time it took to access funding, Sims said.
"The advantage is that a six to 18 month process can be cut to three or six months. This will mean quicker delivery and obviously more housing opportunities per year.
"Accreditation has been a stumbling block for the DA-led council during constant battles with the then ANC provincial government."
Sims said accreditation required the city to have a five-year plan, environment impact assessments and approval of housing projects and its intended beneficiaries.
"About 70 percent of the province's housing work takes place in the city. There is now an environment where officials from the city and the province can work together," she said.
Madikizela said, with the city and province under DA control, the city would become a fully fledged housing developer.
"They city satisfies the accreditation requirements. They are passing it with flying colours and have enough capacity. The only problem is that the city does not have enough land. We agreed the city must identify provincial land for residential purposes and that the first thing we'll do is deal with emergencies as a result of flooding," he said.
Madikizela said the province's role was one of oversight and that there would be regular meetings to monitor the council's progress.
"I'm relieved relations are improved, but one big problems is budget constraints. We do not want to raise expectations because these constraints will impede the speed of delivery," he said.
Sims said: "It was quite sad that the ANC tried to stand in the way, but the city was still able to deliver an average of 7 500 houses. The target is 9 900 for this financial year."
- Cape Times
While accreditation would be finalised next month, the city would from today start using tracts of provincial land for the council's winter readiness programme, mayoral committee member for housing Shehaam Sims said.
An agreement struck at Friday's meeting between Sims, new Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela and officials from their departments, followed DA leader Helen Zille's move to the legislature as premier.
The meeting also decided that a task team of city and provincial officials would be set up to ensure that day-to-day housing issues were addressed efficiently.
| 'They are passing it with flying colours and have enough capacity' |
She said accreditation meant the city could now approach the national government directly for funding. This would result in less red tape and a marked decrease in the time it took to access funding, Sims said.
"The advantage is that a six to 18 month process can be cut to three or six months. This will mean quicker delivery and obviously more housing opportunities per year.
"Accreditation has been a stumbling block for the DA-led council during constant battles with the then ANC provincial government."
Sims said accreditation required the city to have a five-year plan, environment impact assessments and approval of housing projects and its intended beneficiaries.
"About 70 percent of the province's housing work takes place in the city. There is now an environment where officials from the city and the province can work together," she said.
Madikizela said, with the city and province under DA control, the city would become a fully fledged housing developer.
"They city satisfies the accreditation requirements. They are passing it with flying colours and have enough capacity. The only problem is that the city does not have enough land. We agreed the city must identify provincial land for residential purposes and that the first thing we'll do is deal with emergencies as a result of flooding," he said.
Madikizela said the province's role was one of oversight and that there would be regular meetings to monitor the council's progress.
"I'm relieved relations are improved, but one big problems is budget constraints. We do not want to raise expectations because these constraints will impede the speed of delivery," he said.
Sims said: "It was quite sad that the ANC tried to stand in the way, but the city was still able to deliver an average of 7 500 houses. The target is 9 900 for this financial year."
- Cape Times
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