Phase 2 of Marabastad housing project to start soon

Tags

---

04-09-2023
Read : 1685 times
Pretoria Rekord
Source

There is still space for possible applicants who fall in the R11 000–R22 000 income bracket.

The first Phase of the Marabastad Townlands social housing project is now full, housing MMC Ofentse Madzebatela told Rekord on Thursday.

Phase 1 entailed filling the R1 500–R3 500 housing units with tenants.

“Applications for the next Phase will start and the date will be announced soon.

“Remember once we close the applicants we need to workshop [them], check whether they qualify and then make placements. Once we see there is space we redo the process,” he said.

The MMC said there was still space for possible applicants who fell in the R11 000–R22 000 income bracket.

One of the first phase beneficiaries Susan Sithole said she was enjoying her apartment very much and was thankful to the MMC and his team.

“I applied for the property back in 2021, and at first we had minor challenges but they have since been resolved,” said Sithole.

However, Meshack Nkonzo had a completely different experience with his apartment. Nkonzo told Rekord that his unit had electrical faults and leakages.

“We reported the matter to the MMC last time when he was accompanied by other officials from the housing department.

“He promised that he would send people to assist us but we ended up fixing those faults ourselves,” he said.

The Tshwane metro built about 1 200 units to accommodate low-income earners and the majority of whom have since moved in.

This is hailed as one of the country’s biggest social housing ventures.

In the past, the project was dogged by delays caused by protests by disgruntled residents and Covid-19, resulting in financial implications for the construction.

In Phase 1, 232 tenants were allocated units and now live closer to economic opportunities that give them easier access to employment, public transport, shopping malls and sports facilities.

According to a World Bank study, the reduction of the travel time to work greatly benefits workers who spend 70% of their income on transport.