Cape Town - The Tafelberg financial modelling is not a proposal for housing, the provincial Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW) says about the contentious piece of land in Sea Point, adding that there had been a “misperception” created in the media.
The property, which had initially been sold to the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School in Camps Bay for R135 million, is in the midst of a tug of war between the provincial government and lobby groups who want the land to be used for affordable housing.
The Western Cape High Court stopped the sale in May after social justice movements Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi petitioned the court to intervene.
The department has since published the financial model for public comment - on November 18 - after the court’s ruling that a public participation process be carried out.
The head of the department, Jacqueline Gooch, said in a letter to the Cape Argus on Tuesday: “It is important for the public to be informed that the financial modelling is not a proposal for housing on the Tafelberg site, as implied by most media reports.
“It is simply a set of figures to assist the public to comment on whether or not it is financially viable to build social housing on the property, within the housing subsidy regime determined nationally,” said Gooch.
“The purpose of the model is to enable the public to interrogate the cost estimates contained in the model’s spreadsheets, and submit their comments on the viability and replicability of these figures within the framework of the housing subsidy policy that applies to social housing developments,” Gooch added.
She said the new comments, along with the financial model, would be put before the provincial cabinet once the commentary period closed on January 30.
Ndifuna Ukwazi director Jared Rossouw had previously described the financial model as “a substantial commitment towards building the first new affordable housing in the inner-city since the end of apartheid”.
Interested parties have been asked to download the financial model from the provincial transport department’s website or visit its offices in Dorp Street for a copy.
Cape Argus