Phase 1 of the Crystal Park housing development will be completed this month.

The Crystal Park housing estate, situated in Benoni, Johannesburg, aims to meet the demand for sustainable, middle-income accommodation. The entire development will eventually house 4 200 homes.

The development is the inaugural project of Acutts Motlekar, a joint venture between the Acutts Property Group and African investment holding company Motlekar Holdings, in conjunction with construction company Group Five as the building contractor and development manager.

The initiative aims to bring 18 000 housing units to the market each year, conservatively translating into a R5 billion injection to the local economy with spin-offs and job creation expected in land surveying, architecture, building and construction, material delivery and administration. The joint venture currently has the capacity to deliver 100 houses a day.

Acutts chairperson Pat Acutt says Crystal Park Phase 1 includes 300 units. At the time of writing, 193 houses had been completed, with another 100 are due by March. “The first owners are upgrading their properties – landscaping their gardens, building boundary walls, installing electronic gates and erecting carports or garages. There is a sense of neighbourhood developing, with residents expressing bonds of friendship among each other,” he says.

The properties are geared towards first-time buyers and middle-income earners, and the new suburbs will correspond with the government’s proposed economic zone requirements for newly establishing commercial centres.