Ministerial Intervention Ensures R200m Housing Project Gets Underway

Direct intervention by Western Cape Human Settlements Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela ensured that construction an almost doomed housing project was officially commemorated with a tree planting ceremony today. Minister Madikizela said “This project is very close to my heart. While many people thought it would never get off the ground, we managed to get together the right partners to ensure that construction is now underway, and 629 families earning up to R7 500 pm will now have options to rent quality housing at a very affordable rate.”

Development rights for the R207 million rand project were issued in 2006, yet were in danger of lapsing due to a number of issues with the preferred social housing company and bulk infrastructure constraints. Minister Madikizela used his executive authority to extent the development rights for a short period, enabling the current social housing institution Madulammoho to step in and get the project underway, ensuring that almost 630 families will soon have affordable roofs over their heads. This type of Ministerial intervention is the first of its kind in South Africa.

The ceremony was also  represented by other partners in the development, namely the City of Cape Town, CalgroM3 (the contractor), The Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) the National Housing Finance Corporation and Nedbank.

The development reflects the Departments strategic focus in providing affordable housing opportunities made possible through the contribution of multiple partners.

The 629 social housing units will consist of the following:

• 189 Bachelor units (30^m2) at a rental of R 750 pm
• 230 one bed units (33^m2) at a rental of R1 650 pm
• 210 two bed units (41^m2) at a rental of R2 100 pm

Belhar Gardens Rental Estate will provide rental accommodation for two target groups.

• Primary target market =  people who earns less than R3 500 per month
• Secondary target market = people who earns less than R7 500 per month
• The project has 629 rental units with 30% of the units reserved for the primary target market.

SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE PROJECT

Landscaping:

• The project will have a well designed and fully maintained gardens with lots of open and age appropriate play areas for the smaller and bigger kids as well as hall facilities for in-house meetings, social work and functions.

Energy efficiency:

• Madulammoho is installing heat pumps instead of conventional geysers to heat water. Although it comes with an increased capital contribution, this technology saves 55% in energy consumption and cost compared with the use of geysers to heat the water. This saving is passed on to the tenant. Hot and cold water are metered separately through wireless water meters that can be read remotely.