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Meeting with Housing Project Developers
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Housing and Local Government

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

SPEECH BY THE MEC FOR HOUSING, LOCAL GOVERNMENT & TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS

AT THE MEETING WITH HOUSING PROJECT DEVELOPERS HELD IN BISHO

ON  7 OCTOBER 1999



INTRODUCTION

Economic growth and development should be seen as going hand in hand - a position motivating for&#133;.. emphasis on public sector -private 
sector partnerships. It is important to ensure that development takes place in a way that empowers people and communities and enables them 
to take control of their own development.

President Thabo Mbeki, 1998

The Mayors present here this morning, distinguished Guests and officials. It is my pleasure to come and indicate to you what tentative 
conclusions I have drawn from the experience of the past five years in government (although I was in a different portfolio) as well as the 
three months I have spent as an MEC for Housing and Local Government.

I held a number of consultations province - wide, and a picture against which we have to formulate our policies and strategies is beginning 
to emerge.

We focused in the past five years on quantity so as to meet the provincial contribution to the one million houses national target. We did 
very well in that we managed to approve over 100 000 subsidies, extended home ownership in terms of newly constructed housing units to 72 
000 people, transferred home ownership to 91 000 people who previously rented their homes.

In the rush for numbers (quantity), quality was grossly undermined in many instances. We also did not pay much attention to the 
redefinition and design of our landscape, and consequently some of our products do not particularly make us proud. We need to address that 
together and be honest to ourselves when we look at how we have done our business. We have to remember that we had to make a contribution 
to the betterment of the lives of all our people. I believe we shall do that if we introduce the following measures, among others:

* To promote competition among developers at the Provincial level to ensure that we get the best out of every cent within the subsidy and 
achieve quality

* Re-sequence priorities in all capital projects in the order of job creation, skills development and a satisfactory product

* To strengthen relations between the Provincial and Local spheres of government for co-ordinated and integrated development planning to 
maximise social and economic impact

* Limit costs for housing internal infrastructure to R4 500.00 with geo-technical and topographic conditions as exceptions

* Determine a Provincial minimum standard of 40 square meters for the top structure with water-borne sewerage

* Proper contract and project management at both provincial and local levels

FOCUS ON CURRENT HOUSING PROJECTS

Most of the current running projects has been approved with various TLC's and District Councils as developers. These amount to 75% of all 
approved projects. Establishment and emerging private developers constitute only 25% of our direct clientele. I should hasten to point out 
that of the 75%, only the Port Elizabeth TLC manages construction for themselves, and the rest contract the projects out to various project 
managers.

The following number of projects have been approved in the various regions of the Province:

REGION   PRIVATE DEVELOPER       DC OR TLC
EASTERN         1        8
WESTERN  10      19
NORTHERN         3       17
CENTRAL  6       1
EAST GRIQUA      -       6
TOTAL    20 (25%)        62 (75%)
It should be noted that emerging developers form about 10% of the above, although we have tried recently to extend individual subsidies and 
Pilot Projects to them to assist some of them to understand the housing development process, and to gain capacity.

I will however deal with the needs of the emerging contractors on a separate day.

BUDGET ALLOCATION FOR 2000/1 FINANCIAL YEAR

All available funds have been committed to existing projects, therefore no new expenditure will be approved in the current financial year 
(1999/2000).

In terms if the MTEF budget, allocation for 2000/01 is as follows:

* Allocation for capital projects: R 388 ,8 m

* Already committed funds : R 288,8 m,

* Available budget : R 100 ,0 m

At this juncture, I should indicate to you that when I began my term of office with this department the Provincial Housing Development 
Board had already conditionally approved 52 projects to a global amount of R 439 622 350, all of which were subject to the availability of 
funds.

It should be indicated that this scenario would make it very difficult for me to implement any emerging measures which would enhance 
housing delivery in the Province, as whatever new initiatives would only have had to be implemented in the 2002/3 financial year.

The situation then left me with no option but to reconsider these projects to accommodate current demands. In essence this means that we 
will have to introduce a process which captures our emerging measures which would otherwise be in jeopardy and unimplemented.

I articulate this scenario so as to enable you to understand the circumstances, which underpin my decisions.

The electorate has voted for a manifesto which declares that the future for housing is the Peoples Housing Process and it is therefore an 
obligation upon myself as the Executing Authority and MEC for Housing and Local Government to see to it that the will of the people be 
adhered to and implemented immediately. It is in that spirit that I am here to appeal for your co-operation today to become our partners in 
this endeavour.

You are probably asking yourselves how, and I think by the end of this meeting we will be on par.
 The Department has identified the following areas as being on the priority list for the Province:

WESTERN REGION

BUSHMANS RIVER MOUTH
 GRAHAMSTOWN
 KIRKWOOD
 PORT ELIZABETH (SOME AREAS)
 PATERSON
 STORMS RIVER
 UITENHAGE
 ABERDEEN
 JANSENVILLE

CENTRAL REGION

BUTTERWORTH
 EAST LONDON (SOME AREAS)
 ISIDENGE: PERI-RURAL
 IDUTYWA
 KEI MOUTH
 MIDDLEDRIFT
 NQAMAKWE
 SEYMOUR


NORTHERN REGION

INDWE
 ILINGE
MACLEAR
STEYNSBURG
 TARKASTAD


EASTERN REGION

UMTATA


EAST GRIQUA REGION

IBISI
 MOUNT FLETCHER
 MOUNT FRERE
 TABANKULU
 UMZIMKULU


Let me repeat a few of the measures for housing development if only for purposes of emphasis:

* A better management process for housing development

* Re-sequencing to the order of job creation, skills development and a satisfactory product

* A house that is as big as possible without sacrificing quality

* Minimum specifications which are

* 40 square metre minimum top structure

* water-borne sewerage

* running water inside the house

* concrete floor slab

* The People's Housing Process as a rule

* Ideally Municipalities as Developers

All these things can be done provided we adopt the Masakhane spirit. Some of you will argue that these things cannot be done while others 
will say they can be done. We want to hear your views and experiences so that we can consolidate our policies and strategies.

I thank you,
 MEC for Housing, Local Government & Traditional Affairs

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