6 May 2008

The City of Cape Town is to chase up its application for housing accreditation in an effort to fast track the delivery of housing in the Cape metropole.

By removing this layer of red tape, the City will be able to deliver housing more efficiently without having to wait for provincial approval on new projects.

National government is responsible for bulk water, disaster management, police services, justice and defence, whereas provincial government is responsible for schools, hospitals, housing, libraries, ambulance services, liquor licences, museums and economic development.

Local government is responsible for the provision of basic services such as water, electricity and refuse removal, wastewater treatment, housing infrastructure, local roads, law enforcement, sport and recreation, parks and cemeteries, primary health (clinics), environmental health, economic development and emergency services.

"Although the City is not directly responsible for housing, the pent-up demand for housing, with 350 000 families on the waiting list, is a highly emotive issue which can degenerate into a racially polarising and socially destabilising factor," said councillor Dan Plato, Mayoral Committee Member for Housing.

During the past 20 years, urban growth in Cape Town has been ad hoc, resulting in uncoordinated public investment in infrastructure. The result has been ineffective and unsustainable urban development.

Urban sprawl, due to the location of informal settlements along the city's periphery, has placed immense strain on the City's finances by requiring new bulk and link infrastructure extensions.

"We therefore need to put in place policy and spatial planning frameworks that will facilitate the development of integrated human settlements," said Plato.

A central IDP objective for 2008 is to implement the Informal Settlements Upgrade Master Plan, and transform dormitory suburbs into areas that support a greater mix of land uses, offer a range of amenities and are socially mixed facilities.

The City also aims to develop 9 900 new housing opportunities by 2009, increase rental stock through social housing partnerships, redress land ownership inequities by providing housing based on restitution claim settlements, and facilitate gap housing programmes through partnerships with banks and developers.

"Generally, the City's spatial development strategy will be containment, densification and infill. It will seek to limit Cape Town's footprint and make more effective use of existing infrastructure capacity," said Plato.

"New developments will also be located on vacant and under-utilised residential, industrial and commercial land."

Source: CapeTown.gov.za