30 January 2007

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has so far built 3 000 houses this financial year. According to housing manager Mvulani Mapu, the municipality has set aside R292-million for housing delivery.

"Our target is to complete 6 000 houses for poor families at the end of every financial year (June)," Mapu said. "An amount of R90-million has been spent in the construction of RDP houses within the jurisdiction of the municipality."

He said quality housing delivery was the essence of the municipality's developmental programme.

The municipality refers to government funded housing in the area as metro houses. Each house has four rooms, which include an indoor flush toilet, a bathroom with a shower, 40 square metres of floor space, two exits, and five windows. All metro houses have verandahs, and the exterior is plastered with cement.

Home owners are also given the choice of three types of roofing: corrugated iron, fibre glass or roof tiles.

Mapu said the housing delivery programme was aimed at achieving a significant reduction to the housing backlog, which stands at some 80 000 units in the Metro.

He said 25 000 additional units were needed over the next five years to cater for the projected growth at 6 000 per year.

Of the total R292.7-million budget, R177.7-million is for current projects, R36-million for new projects, R73-million for Zanemvula projects, with R5-million reserved for emergency projects.

The Zanemvula pilot project is aimed at providing relief and housing security to residents living in informal settlements in floodplains.

One of the biggest challenges facing housing delivery is that well-established contractors do not want to get involved in low-cost housing programmes, because the profits are limited.

"There are long procurement processes that needed to be followed before a housing delivery deal is fulfilled," said Mapu.

Other fundamental issues and impediments for housing delivery include storm-damaged houses, blocked housing projects as well as environmental impact assessments.

According to municipal figures, 49 398 houses were built for needy communities between 1997 and 2006.

Source: BuaNews