The woes of government’s massive housing flagship, Cape Town’s N2 Gateway, refuse to go away. This week, the United Nations’s special rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, wrapped up a two-week visit to South Africa, saying he found it “distressing” that the R3,1billion scheme was so “chaotic”.
Kothari, who visited South Africa on the government’s invitation, inspected a range of formal and informal settlements in Cape Town. He told the Mail & Guardian he was “surprised at the lack of planning and consultation” in the Gateway project.
Phase one of the project, involving the construction of 705 rental units, was completed almost a year behind schedule, while the construction of bonded houses in phase two has also been delayed. The budget overrun currently stands at about R150-million.
“I found the whole process to be chaotic. It was distressing for me to see that the original beneficiaries of this housing project were moved so far out of the city and ended up not benefiting at all,” Kothari said.
Residents of the Gateway’s rental flats have complained that they have been forced to approach the rental tribunal office over substandard construction work, because government representatives are unavailable.
Kothari agreed: “People are and were simply not consulted by government — this is a critical absence. I also found a large scale of misplaced planning because of a lack of consultation. Residents from every type of community spoke with frustration about the lack of information and access to government.”
His visit came as the Western Cape’s Housing Minister, Richard Dyanti, added his voice to the chorus of criticism. But residents say Dyanti’s visit to the site last week is not sufficient and that they have asked the rental tribunal office to conduct hearings into the housing department’s responsibility for shoddy work.
A month ago, a civil engineer and construction manager showed the M&G major structural defects in Gateway houses, barely six months after the first residents moved into the complex.
Representatives of national Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s office, and the managing director of Thubelisha Homes, the company which manages the complex, then asked tenants to give them a month to fix “all construction problems”… M&G
Kothari, who visited South Africa on the government’s invitation, inspected a range of formal and informal settlements in Cape Town. He told the Mail & Guardian he was “surprised at the lack of planning and consultation” in the Gateway project.
Phase one of the project, involving the construction of 705 rental units, was completed almost a year behind schedule, while the construction of bonded houses in phase two has also been delayed. The budget overrun currently stands at about R150-million.
“I found the whole process to be chaotic. It was distressing for me to see that the original beneficiaries of this housing project were moved so far out of the city and ended up not benefiting at all,” Kothari said.
Residents of the Gateway’s rental flats have complained that they have been forced to approach the rental tribunal office over substandard construction work, because government representatives are unavailable.
Kothari agreed: “People are and were simply not consulted by government — this is a critical absence. I also found a large scale of misplaced planning because of a lack of consultation. Residents from every type of community spoke with frustration about the lack of information and access to government.”
His visit came as the Western Cape’s Housing Minister, Richard Dyanti, added his voice to the chorus of criticism. But residents say Dyanti’s visit to the site last week is not sufficient and that they have asked the rental tribunal office to conduct hearings into the housing department’s responsibility for shoddy work.
A month ago, a civil engineer and construction manager showed the M&G major structural defects in Gateway houses, barely six months after the first residents moved into the complex.
Representatives of national Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s office, and the managing director of Thubelisha Homes, the company which manages the complex, then asked tenants to give them a month to fix “all construction problems”… M&G
No comments:
Post a Comment