Jacob Mamabolo, the MEC for Human Settlements in Gauteng, has launched the Princess Plots housing project in Roodepoort.

The Department has partnered with City Of Johannesburg to make sure the long awaited project is not delayed any further. MEC Mamabolo will be joined by City of Johannesburg Housing MMC Dan Bovu.

The Princess Plots project will consist of mixed tenure, mixed density and mixed land use accommodating more than 4 300 beneficiaries.

The first phase is being implemented through the Human Settlements Department and will have 3 500 houses while the phase by the City of Johannesburg is expected to yield 804 houses.

The Princess Plots Project will be implemented in six phases with the first phase being constructed as the Show Village Development. This part will comprise of 281 dwelling units and is being developed on the proclaimed Township of Princess Ext 22.

As part of the first phase there will be RDP, Multi storey Rental Units and Semi-detached Bonded houses. The project will include sports field, business, church, crèche, primary school and a multi-purpose centre.

The planning of the project started in 2009 and the implementation started in 2014 and is expected to be completed in 2019.

Since the land was privately owned, government has bought 17 portions of land and one of the plots has been used to develop Temporary Residential Units which have been completed and fully occupied by the potential residents of the project that were removed from the current construction site.

Government has attributed the delays in the project to the long process involved in purchasing land, and the growth in the number of people who were initially supposed to benefit from the project.