Cape Town - Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille has announced that the government has identified 20 land parcels in the Western Cape to be released for the purposes of human settlements.
De Lille made the announcement when the economic cluster appeared before the National Council of Provinces to respond to oral questions.
“The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure has received requests from the Western Cape provincial Department of Human Settlements, and also from various municipalities as well as the housing development agency,” De Lille said.
“And they have supplied us with all the relevant supporting documents aligned to the integrated development plan of the municipalities.”
De Lille said once this has taken place, the requests are then subjected to the relevant administrative procedures and once these processes support the release of the properties for human settlement purposes, they will get ministerial approval.
Thereafter, it will get National Treasury’s endorsement before being transferred to the relevant municipalities and government entities requesting the land.
“We are working on 22 land parcels and once these properties have gone through all the processes, we will release them as soon as possible,” she said.
Patrica de Lille
Her announcement comes a few days after the Cape Argus reported that the ugly spat between De Lille and the DA had reached a new low.
Mayco member for human settlements Malusi Booi, in a letter to De Lille, made an urgent appeal for the release of public land or buildings for the provision of low-cost or affordable housing.
Booi’s request was with a view to the SANDF releasing land at Wingfield and Youngsfield for housing.
De Lille’s friction with the DA over housing in the city reached boiling point last month, when Emma Powell, the DA’s spokesperson for water, sanitation and human settlements, wrote to De Lille in September requesting clarity on whether her department intended on releasing six large tracts of land under her department’s custodianship for housing.
These land parcels, which include Ysterplaat, Denel, Culemborg, Youngsfield, Wingfield and Upper Darling Street could yield in excess of 93000 affordable housing opportunities.
@MarvinCharles17