Joburg’s R300m Soweto housing development gathers momentum
14 July 2017
The City of Johannesburg Housing Department’s development of the Elias Motsoaledi informal settlement in Soweto, in Region D, into a fully-fledged urban township at a cost of R300-million is on track and will be completed by 2020.
About 630 of the 1 489 RDP and 3 000 rental housing units have already been built, with a further 230 units expected to be completed by December this year.
The two-phase housing development, which was approved by the City in 2010 and started in 2011, is complemented by the building of roads, parks, crèches, schools, recreational facilities and a bridge linking the southern and northern parts of the area.
The construction of the 65m-long and 14m-wide bridge is scheduled to be completed by the end of December this year.
According to Bubu Xuba, the department’s Assistant Director, the bridge will make movement within the area, which is divided by a stream, much easier.
The new township, named after ANC veteran and Rivonia trialist Elias Motsoaledi who served 25 years on Robben Island with other struggle icons such as Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, is situated near Bara Mall in Region D.
The informal settlement has over the years been plagued by a series of violent service delivery protests, which delayed the construction project, relocation of people and allocation of completed houses to their owners.
Xuba says the problem was also compounded by landlords who rented out their shacks to up to 10 people each, swelling the numbers.
She says the second phase of the development has already started with the building roads and the storm water drainage system, expected to be completed by the end of September this year. Xuba says the building of the rest of the houses will start in earnest at the beginning of 2018.
“Once the work is done, the City will be issued with a Section 82 certificate that will enable us to transfer title deeds to the new owners and start building schools, crèches and recreational facilities,” concludes Xuba.