Cosmo City taking off in Gauteng

white home buyers are snapping up units in cosmo city, gauteng's first deliberately integrated low to medium-income township (cosmo city) north west of johannesburg. a total of 2 300 families will be housed in the development.

the developer, m5 developments is involved in a consortium that will manage the servicing and construction of about 14 000 units at cosmo city, currently the single largest township development at what has long been an area for rich whites in randburg and sandton.

faizal motlekar, executive chairman at m5 developments, says cosmo city have already sold more than 1 000 bond houses- of which between 500 and 600 have been approved by the bank.

" by the end of this year more than 500 bonded houses will be completed and 1 800 rdp houses will be ready for occupation," says motlekar.

the mix of houses to be constructed will be 5000 rdp units, 3 000 credit-assisted units, and 3 300 bond-financed houses destined for completion over the next five years.

"the target market for cosmo city is ranging between r250 000 and r350 000," says motlekar.

there are, however, some houses which will cost up to r700 000.

cosmo city consists of 322 ha of residential land for those who are subsidised, credit-linked and who have bonded houses. another 17 ha is earmarked for residential apartments, and 10ha for business (retail, business parks and convenient shopping areas). some 11,5 ha will be institutional land and 35.75 ha for educational development.

another 43 ha of industrial land will provide job opportunities. to preserve aesthetics, 320 ha will be kept as open areas and nature conservation areas.

the whole of cosmo city is fully serviced in terms of water, electricity, sewerage, storm water and roads, including street lighting.

motlekar says the province still needs three to four mixed townships to address the housing backlog through innovative solutions.

motlekar says the company is looking for land in the eastern cape and the western cape to emulate this model." cosmo city is the model that government will want to develop countrywide because of the success and integration of the new south africa."