Cape Town - The City says construction on some of its key housing projects is under way within the Covid-19 health and safety regulations.
The level 4 lockdown regulations allow for civil engineering for public works, such as subsidised housing projects, to resume.
Mayco Member for Human Settlements, Malusi Booi, said: “The City is dedicated to making up for the time lost due to the implementation of the national lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but only projects where the required health and safety regulations have been met will commence. The City will do its best to catch up on projects that have been delayed by the national lockdown. The City is using its panel of contractors’ tender, which was put in place to enable more timeous and efficient contractor and supplier services where possible. We are hoping this tender, which covers some of our projects, will go a long way towards helping us get back on track.
“Subsidy housing projects in Kraaifontein, Harare in Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Macassar, Masiphumelele, Simon’s Town and Helderberg areas are resuming from this week. Some informal settlements projects such as in Imizamo Yethu, Mfuleni and Wallacedene have also begun.”
Meanwhile, Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier on Tuesday wrote to Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, with an attached submission, requesting that under alert level 4 restrictions, construction be allowed to expand operations beyond public sector engineering and construction.
Maynier was visiting the Brackengate 2 construction development in Brackenfell, a bespoke industrial park under construction before Covid-19. Development was halted at the start of the nation-wide lockdown with only 58% of the building completed.
Maynier said: “We want it to include commercial, industrial and private residential construction, together with construction by public entities, and to permit the upscaling of manufacturing of construction supplies beyond 50% sector employment. These proposals incorporate aspects of the draft alert level 3 and 2 provisions - all of which we believe can safely be implemented immediately.
“It is estimated the impact on the construction sector of the Covid-19 pandemic could cost the Western Cape 111416 direct and indirect jobs in 2020, and a loss of R14.9billion in income to people employed in this sector. Opening up private construction as soon as possible, which we believe can safely be done under level 4, will help prevent these job losses.”