13,000 housing units are set to be constructed in South Africa by the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements. Upon completion‚ the housing project will include social housing‚ bonded houses‚ RDP walk-ups and military veterans’ houses.
The development was launched by Gauteng Premier David Makhura‚ together with the province’s human settlements MEC‚ Paul Mashatile in the West Rand.
“We are supporting the premier’s vision of doing away with spatial-planning and small-scale developments in favour of mega-city projects. These projects will give way to approximately 13‚000 units once complete,” said Mashatile.
Also Read: US $71m housing development set to provide homes for 45 000 people in South Africa
He added that Rand West Municipality will have five mega-city projects out of 31. The next projects to be launched are the Western Mega and Dan Ntlhome projects‚ with a yield of 15‚000 – 20‚000 units each upon completion.
This development will include schools‚ clinics‚ churches‚ commercial developments‚ urban agriculture and will cost a whopping US$ 495m to be complete.
The government intends to revive the economy of the area in Rand West which suffered a lot when mines and businesses closed down together. An initiative of getting the materials for the development of the Montrose project will come from business people around the area.
“We are using a multi-faceted approach as government. Our developments should include education‚ health‚ police stations, we will also restart the railway line to ensure that people can move faster‚” Makhura said.
Since 1996‚ the Gauteng government has built close to 1.2-million houses‚ but there is still a backlog of 600‚000.
