Cape Town - Poor workmanship on the part of inexperienced building contractors has been blamed for the widespread incidence of structural defects on about 2,500 low cost houses across the Cape Peninsula, the Local Government Research Centre has reported.
The centre - in its SA Local Government Briefing - reported that an investigation by the National Homes Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) had revealed widespread evidence of shoddy brick laying work, poor quality of bricks, damp ceilings, and cracks on the walls as well as bad plumbing.
The registration council’s executive technical services director,Jeffrey Mahachi, said most of the 2 473 houses inspected late last year - after numerous complaints from homeowners - had structural defects which, if not addressed soon, may pose a serious threat to the lives of thousands of low-income homeowners.
The audit covered nine areas, including Gugulethu, Manenberg, Mitchell’s Plain and Philippi, where houses were checked individually and it was found that 98% of them had defects.
‘Defects affect habitability’
Although the majority of the inspected houses had only minor structural defects - defined as a defect that would not affect the structural integrity of a home - most of these “affect the habitability of these houses” and some will “end up being structural if not attended to in time”, the centre reported the registration council as reporting.
Factors that contributed to the defects included soil erosion, poor workmanship and the use of incorrect materials. Using a scale of 0-100%,with 100 for a house without defects, most of the houses scored between 65% and 70%.
In one area, the average was 30%.
R20m to repair
The registration council said it would cost about R20m to repair homes with major defects and about 15 million rand for those with minor defects. The total of R35m represented nearly twice the amount that was spent to build them.
This excluded R10m that had already been spent by the Cape Town municipality in recent years on short-term repairs.
The low-income rental houses were built in 2000 by the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC), in which the City of Cape Town and the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) were equal partners. The CTCHC had appealed to the city council for a contribution to the R35m repair bill, the centre - headed by Alderman Clive Keegan - reported.
‘Building regulations contravened’
Keegan noted that a recent report by the University of Cape Town found that the CTCHC had contravened building regulations.
It was also recently reported that the municipality and the NHFC would spend R2.6m fixing the structural problems, the centre noted.
In May 2006, the council approved the appointment of a third social housing company, Communicare, to help it build 5 000 houses by 2008.
Keegan also noted that it had also been reported that serious defects had been detected in virtually every one of the 705 units which were completed six months ago as the first phase of the N2 Gateway housing project.
N2 Gateway way behind
The N2 Gateway, which is the national flagship pilot project for national government’s Comprehensive Plan for the Creation of Sustainable Human Settlements, was supposed to have provided 22 000 houses by last June, but has so far completed only 705 units - which had proved unaffordable for the potential tenants whom they were meant to house.
The controversy-ridden project had also overrun its initial budget by an estimated R135m, with units that were originally budgeted to cost R80,000 eventually costing in excess of R130,000, the centre reported. - Fin24
The centre - in its SA Local Government Briefing - reported that an investigation by the National Homes Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) had revealed widespread evidence of shoddy brick laying work, poor quality of bricks, damp ceilings, and cracks on the walls as well as bad plumbing.
The registration council’s executive technical services director,Jeffrey Mahachi, said most of the 2 473 houses inspected late last year - after numerous complaints from homeowners - had structural defects which, if not addressed soon, may pose a serious threat to the lives of thousands of low-income homeowners.
The audit covered nine areas, including Gugulethu, Manenberg, Mitchell’s Plain and Philippi, where houses were checked individually and it was found that 98% of them had defects.
‘Defects affect habitability’
Although the majority of the inspected houses had only minor structural defects - defined as a defect that would not affect the structural integrity of a home - most of these “affect the habitability of these houses” and some will “end up being structural if not attended to in time”, the centre reported the registration council as reporting.
Factors that contributed to the defects included soil erosion, poor workmanship and the use of incorrect materials. Using a scale of 0-100%,with 100 for a house without defects, most of the houses scored between 65% and 70%.
In one area, the average was 30%.
R20m to repair
The registration council said it would cost about R20m to repair homes with major defects and about 15 million rand for those with minor defects. The total of R35m represented nearly twice the amount that was spent to build them.
This excluded R10m that had already been spent by the Cape Town municipality in recent years on short-term repairs.
The low-income rental houses were built in 2000 by the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC), in which the City of Cape Town and the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) were equal partners. The CTCHC had appealed to the city council for a contribution to the R35m repair bill, the centre - headed by Alderman Clive Keegan - reported.
‘Building regulations contravened’
Keegan noted that a recent report by the University of Cape Town found that the CTCHC had contravened building regulations.
It was also recently reported that the municipality and the NHFC would spend R2.6m fixing the structural problems, the centre noted.
In May 2006, the council approved the appointment of a third social housing company, Communicare, to help it build 5 000 houses by 2008.
Keegan also noted that it had also been reported that serious defects had been detected in virtually every one of the 705 units which were completed six months ago as the first phase of the N2 Gateway housing project.
N2 Gateway way behind
The N2 Gateway, which is the national flagship pilot project for national government’s Comprehensive Plan for the Creation of Sustainable Human Settlements, was supposed to have provided 22 000 houses by last June, but has so far completed only 705 units - which had proved unaffordable for the potential tenants whom they were meant to house.
The controversy-ridden project had also overrun its initial budget by an estimated R135m, with units that were originally budgeted to cost R80,000 eventually costing in excess of R130,000, the centre reported. - Fin24
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