Six mega housing infrastructure projects are in the pipeline for Ekurhuleni. The rollout of the projects is expected to span over the next five years and will address the serious human settlement backlog across the city.This was according to metro spokesperson Themba Gadebe.

In mid-April, the city launched its Leeuwpoort housing project in Boksburg which plans to see the construction of 19,000 houses.

These houses will be built to benefit residents in the Reiger Park, Boksburg, Joe Slovo, Ulana Park, Hlahane, Driefontein, Crossroads (Roodekop Ext 3), Vosloorus, Kalamazoo and Katlehong areas.

To date, already R2 billion has been invested in the project.

Gadebe said that in the current financial year, the metro plans on delivering approximately 5,000 housing units. He added that by the end of the 2017/18 financial year, the mayoral committee hopes to see the rollout of 8,000 houses.

He explained that available land has been identified for the housing projects and that the city was in the process of securing more land “to provide bulk services” including water and sanitation systems for housing settlements in Leeuwpoort, Clayville Extension 156, John Dube and Daggafontein.

Financial support

Gadebe said the metro would also offer fully subsidised units to the poorest residents through the Finance Linked Subsidy Programme.

“The project has been launched for the middle income earners looking for rental stock and bonded units in Delville extension 9 and Chris Hani Village in Germiston with over 300 housing units completed and ready for occupation from the beginning of May 2017,” he said.

Cosmopolitan area

Gadebe said Ekurhuleni’s multi-pronged housing delivery strategy plans to transform the city into a “modern cosmopolitan urban environment”, and indicated that the municipality has set itself a target to provide 59,000 service stands during its current term of office.

Some of these stands will include the supply bulk water and sanitation infrastructure, and access to roads.