Pic: Supplied
The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has commenced with a multi-million rand housing project that it said would benefit more than 350 families in the metro's Jachvlakte community in Booysen Park.
On Wednesday, the municipality said Phase 1 of the project was underway with about eight contractors working on site.
Mayoral committee member for Human Settlements, Tukela Zumani, who conducted an oversight visit to assess the work being done, said he was “very pleased with the progress”.
“The project consists of 356 units, currently 225 have been approved and we are currently building 83,” he said.
“I'm told that there eight contractors on the site and they are well on their way to completing their allocations.
All challenges that we faced were resolved swiftly and therefor the project is now moving smoothly.
We are confident that we will be able to engage with the Provincial Department [of Human Settlements] to make sure we get approval for all the 356 units and that we provide safe and suitable houses for residents.”
Talking about the importance of his department’s work, Zumani said: “Human settlements is not just about only providing shelter or a roof over a person's head, but it speaks to the person's dignity, and a person's way of life.
“You often find that in those communities where there's insufficient human settlement provision [they are often] synonymous with a whole host of social ills; you'd find the prevalence of gun violence, the prevalence of all sorts of crime, illiteracy, gender-based violence, substance abuse and so forth,” said Zumani.
“But as you make progress to provide suitable integrated human settlements you find that there's a paradigm shift in that community.”
