Cape Town - Residents of Agstelaan informal settlement in Valhalla Park who were left homeless after a fire in the area last month have been rehoused, the City of Cape Town said on Monday.
“The primary beneficiaries have all been accommodated according to a formal layout that will ultimately house all 600 families in the informal settlement,” Cape Town's disaster risk management centre spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said in a statement.
The layout plan was developed according to the city's Upgrading of Informal Settlement Programme (UISP).
The programme will see each family getting access to piped water, flush toilets, prepaid electricity and wheelie bin services, Solomons-Johannes said.
Construction should begin in October. The families were currently placed on their allocated sites with temporary water standpipes and portable flush toilets. Electricity was due to be installed shortly, he said.
“The other families in the informal settlements who have not been affected by the fire will also be relocated to their improved housing sites.”
Solomons-Johannes said 276 primary beneficiaries and 13 backyard dwellers in the informal settlement had been assisted, including five backyard dwellers in the formal area.
The formal houses that were affected were being dealt with by their respective insurance companies.
On December 23 more than 1500 people were left destitute when a fire ripped through the informal settlement. Residents staged a protest on Boxing Day.
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said in a statement at the time that a housing database was being used to provide housing opportunities for any particular group.
De Lille said the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) would also visit the site to do biometric verification of all grant beneficiaries and that the city was working with the department of home affairs to facilitate the reissuing of identity documents lost in the fire. -Sapa