The provincial government is frustrated by what it sees as the city council's underspending of its housing budget and says that it may do the job itself, dealing directly with developers and contractors.
Premier Ebrahim Rasool has told a summit on housing that the city has received about 73 percent of its housing budget and is projected to underspend by R154-million this year.
The city and the province continued to differ on policy matters and, if this persisted, the province would be left little choice but to act to speed up delivery, he told the summit, attended by bank, municipality and community representatives.
"The city is not coming to the party with land. Increasingly we are having policy differences when we have to implement the national template. It make us (wonder) whether to pass on the money," Rasool said.
"You have a sphere of government that gets 73 percent of the housing budget, but takes no responsibility when things go wrong.
"I'm to suggest we ask (Local Government and Housing) MEC Richard Dyantyi to seek ways (in which) the province itself becomes the agent that contracts the developers, rather than … the city."
The mayoral committee member for housing, Dan Plato, said it was untrue that the city had underspent.
"Some time last year, the province added R150-million to the city's original budget of R450-million. Obviously, we could not spend all that money and we informed the province.
"The (city's) previous (ANC) administration let go of experienced personnel, such as engineers and project managers. We have now had to appoint these people again as we need these skills to implement the housing programme." - Cape Times
Premier Ebrahim Rasool has told a summit on housing that the city has received about 73 percent of its housing budget and is projected to underspend by R154-million this year.
The city and the province continued to differ on policy matters and, if this persisted, the province would be left little choice but to act to speed up delivery, he told the summit, attended by bank, municipality and community representatives.
"The city is not coming to the party with land. Increasingly we are having policy differences when we have to implement the national template. It make us (wonder) whether to pass on the money," Rasool said.
"You have a sphere of government that gets 73 percent of the housing budget, but takes no responsibility when things go wrong.
"I'm to suggest we ask (Local Government and Housing) MEC Richard Dyantyi to seek ways (in which) the province itself becomes the agent that contracts the developers, rather than … the city."
The mayoral committee member for housing, Dan Plato, said it was untrue that the city had underspent.
"Some time last year, the province added R150-million to the city's original budget of R450-million. Obviously, we could not spend all that money and we informed the province.
"The (city's) previous (ANC) administration let go of experienced personnel, such as engineers and project managers. We have now had to appoint these people again as we need these skills to implement the housing programme." - Cape Times
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