Question NW3260 to the Minister of Human Settlements
05 December 2023 - NW3260
Ceza, Mr K to ask the Minister of Human Settlements
In light of the incomplete housing projects in rural Municipalities such as (a) Ngqushwa Local Municipality and (b) Emalahleni Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, what steps of intervention has she taken to ensure that such projects are completed?
Reply:
a) In 2021, the National Department of Human Settlements and its sector partners (Provinces and Municipalities) took a decision to unblock all blocked projects over a period of three financial years, namely, 2022/23 – 2024/25. A blocked or incomplete project is defined as: A project where no delivery progress has been made for a period of 12 months following the first payment to the contractor. The blocked or incomplete projects include serviced sites and houses at different levels of construction namely, slab level, wall-plate level, roof level, etc.
Factors that usually lead to human settlements projects being blocked are;
- illegal land occupations,
- geotechnical variations,
- construction mafias,
- community unrest,
- poor performance by contractors (some of whom would have abandoned sites),
- the lack of bulk infrastructure and link services,
As at April 2023, the Eastern Cape Province had identified 79 blocked and incomplete projects. From the 79 projects, a total of 11 have been unblocked and the balance is 68.
From the 68 remaining blocked and incomplete projects, the Ngqushwa and Emalahleni Local Municipalities both account for 2 projects in the approved 2023/24 Business Plan of the Eastern Cape Province- See table below
Table 1: Blocked Projects in the 2023 /2024 Business Plan to be unblocked
|
No. |
Project Name |
DM |
LM |
|
Peddie - Mphekweni 500 subs |
Amathole |
Ngqushwa |
|
|
Lady Frere 715 |
Chris Hani |
Emalahleni |