COVER STORY
Protea Glen Ext 22 – a Kiron project . Image : Kiron
HOUSING DELIVERY – FACT OR FICTION ?
SAARDA challenges the government to leverage the strength of Public Private Partnerships to ensure delivery .
South Africa ’ s Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu indicated in her budget speech on 18 May 2017 that 1 201 houses are being constructed a day for the past 20 years . This is pure fiction and cannot be substantiated by facts . The government has constructed a maximum of 1.5 million houses over the past 20 years from 1994 to 2014 , although the housing department ’ s website shows that government build 2 835 275 houses , only about 1.5 million of these were built by government . The balance was constructed by private developers as affordable housing and partly serviced stands .
Communicating fictitious and inflated numbers to the industry and public can cause chaos and discord . Material suppliers are totally flabbergasted as to who is supplying the building materials . Unemployed construction workers feel left out of securing a job . New young black developers and builders feel that they are being discriminated against by not participating . Citizens that have been waiting for more than 20 years for houses feel totally in the dark as to whom these houses are being allocated to , as it is definitely not to them .
The minister indicated that all the mega projects would be announced and made public 14 days after her budget speech . This has still not been made public . It was also confirmed that an official RDP housing waiting list would be drawn up and published to indicate exactly who was on the list and where they are in the process of receiving a RDP house . This list has also not been finalised . Both these undertakings must be prioritised so that the public and industry can be well informed and to reduce public unrest .
College under construction at Sky City , south of Johannesburg . Image : Cosmopolitan Projects
SAARDA requests that the local authorities review their bulk service contributions for affordable housing .
Established developers and major banks can play a key role in assisting government in providing serviced stands , training new young black developers and builders and providing thousands of houses in a brief period . Public private partnerships are a major source of growth for South Africa and can only be used if government officials want to leverage the strength of the SAARDA network . We are ready and waiting to assist the government in housing delivery .
20
JULY - AUGUST 2017
AFFORDABLE
SA HOUSING