East social housing contractor to be appointed May 2025
16-04-2024
Read : 105 times
Pretoria Rekord
Source
Construction of the Pretorius Park Ext 4 social housing project is expected to continue until 2027 as the provincial government finishes off the top structures of the project.
According to the metro, a contractor will be appointed in the next financial year for constructing the Pretorius Park Ext 4 social housing project.
The development aims at alleviating the saga of the Plastic View and Cemetery View informal settlements, which are a stone’s throw away from some of the most affluent east suburbs.
Residents in surrounding suburbs, such as Woodlands, Woodhill Golf Estate, The Wilds Mooikloof and Featherwood have been raising concerns about these informal settlements on their doorstep.
The residents had been complaining about issues such as crime, noise and air pollution through the burning of plastics and the illicit sale of alcohol.
According to the metro, the new township’s establishment was approved in October 2022 and is expected to yield 864 low-cost houses and rental units.
The development will consist of flats and townhouses to cater for qualifying residents in different income brackets and will be located just east of the Woodlands Shopping Centre.
Metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba said that once completed, the facility will be managed by the Housing Tshwane Company to ensure sustainability.
Progress of this development has, however, been moving at a snail’s pace.
“The approval of the final detailed designs for the civil engineering internal network and architectural building plan circulating for comments will be done during December,” said Bokaba.
He said the appointment of a contractor will follow after all preparation of tender documents for the appointment of contractor and supply chain management processes has been completed, which started in March this year and is envisaged to be finished in January 2025.
According to Bokaba, the timeline for relocating the dwellers to the social housing unit is dependent on the construction completion date and other processes for dealing with foreign nationals.
The Plastic View saga has been ongoing since March 2006, when metro officials, police and CPF allegedly joined in an illegal operation that burnt down shacks in the settlement and destroyed personal property.
The settlement dwellers went to court and the Supreme Court of Appeal ultimately found the metro had lied under oath and that the illegal operation was comparable to brutality.
Since 2009, the High Court in Pretoria has made a series of orders instigated by surrounding homeowner associations regarding the relocation of dwellers and regularisation of the settlement.
Bokaba said construction for internal services, such as a water supply pipeline, sewer and roads, is expected start between July 2025 and May 2026.
“After this part with the building of low structures, the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements will construct the top structures as per agreement, which will start on July 2026 and envisaged to be completed by February 2027.”
MMC for Human Settlements in Tshwane Ofentse Madzebatela said the planned development is a beacon of hope for those living in poor conditions for many years. It is hoped it will bring about a better quality of life for those who will be relocated there.
Madzebatela said the township development was approved by the spatial planning department as well as the provincial government.
“In the next budget, the city will start with the construction of the bulk water supply pipelines, sewer, roads and electricity as part of our agreement with the province, as it is the custodian to build the top structures of the project.”
He said the project will address the Cemetery View and Plastic View informal settlements issue.
“We will engage the police and Home Affairs to ensure the issue of illegal immigration is dealt with.”
According to Madzebatela, qualifying foreign nationals will be allowed to rent units, while qualifying South Africans will be given what is called Breaking New Ground (BNG) social units and RDPs.
Madzebatela said the mayor has established a multi-stakeholder committee involving the TMPD, police, ward councillors, departments of health and community safety to look at the issues of by-law enforcement, noise pollution, illegal dumping, criminality and illicit sale of alcohol.
Recent News
Here are recent news articles from the Building and Construction Industry.
Have you signed up for your free copy yet?
