The starting premise of any work in Alexandra is one of conflict. But this means that the community has been consulted before any work is done under the ARP.
The conversion of the Alex hostels is producing single room flats with small kitchens and bathrooms.
Despite this conflict, work continues apace, says project director Julian Baskin, with some 8,970 houses being built at present. The conflict arises from the enormous relocation necessary every time an intervention needs to be made.
Although housing is in huge demand in the township, Baskin emphasises that the ARP is not only about building houses. Schools have been constructed; parks have been laid out along the Jukskei River; bridges, roads and taxi ranks have been built; and 23,000 electricity connections have been installed.
But this doesn't come cheap - the initial seven-year budget of R1,3bn was spent by 2005, three years before the project deadline of 2008. The City provided R370m of that, with the Gauteng province chipping in R845m and the national government R85m.
A further R2,2bn has been allocated and the deadline has been extended until 2011, says Baskin, although those involved in the project see it continuing for many more years.
The original 2,5km² township was established in 1912 in what was then farmland, distant from the town centre. These days it is bursting at its seams with about 400,000 people living within its bustling streets, which stretch across the Jukskei River and up its eastern banks. Its population grows at the national average of 5% a year.
Houses are the most tangible and visible results of the ARP. "There are more houses being built in Alex than anywhere else," says Baskin. Some 14,200 housing units of different configurations have been constructed since the conception of the ARP in 2001.
Some 11,503 households have been relocated out of old Alex to housing units on the East Bank, across the river. At first the residents were relocated out of Alex according to the housing waiting list, but many returned, so a new strategy was developed in which blocks of residents are relocated as new units become available. The shacks they occupied are then demolished and the land redeveloped, or made into sports facilities or school fields.
Baskin says the demolitions are rapid so that new tenants cannot take up occupancy.
Schools and sports facilities
The emphasis has recently shifted to developing schools and sports facilities. This is because, although there is a need to disentangle the 54,000 backyard shacks, the issue is one of compensation for pain and suffering, going back to 2005; it is now before the courts.
And no one is disputing this emphasis - better schools and facilities benefit the whole community, which is strongly behind the work being done at present, Baskin reiterates.
Anyway, very often school sports fields have been taken up with hundreds of shacks. Now, with shacks being cleared, space has opened up to create a youth precinct. The precinct will have a skateboard track, basketballs courts, and a small stadium, to tie in with Football for Hope, an initiative that flows out of the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup. It will also incorporate the nearby Thusong Youth Centre, giving it more structure and definition.
"This is part of making Alex a destination," says Baskin.
Accommodation
Meanwhile, houses are going up at the rate of 50 at a time on the East Bank, with a range of configurations - single rooms with adjacent shared bathroom facilities; complexes with single rooms and shared bathrooms and kitchens; two-storey, two-bedroom units with a small kitchen and bathroom; two-roomed semi-detached houses. And of course, the three hostels in Alex are being revamped.
This gives versatility to the varied housing needs of residents, says Baskin. Some don't qualify for Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) housing because they qualify elsewhere; some see themselves as temporary city sojourners; some come from beyond South Africa and just need a temporary room; and some get a job elsewhere and rent out their house temporarily.
"Poor people are very transient, and go where the jobs are. A house plays many roles, and may become income for them during certain times."
Alex's notorious hostels are also under the revamp spotlight. Nobuthie hostel, built in 1972, is still structurally sound, says Baskin, and is being converted into single rooms for rent. Some 600 rooms are being built, with the goal of 1,000 rooms when the project is complete. Beds in a room were originally rented for R27 a month. Once the renovation is complete a room will be rented out at R200, eventually to be raised to R350, on par with other rooms in Alex.
The M1 or Madala hostel, built in 1971, has to be demolished, says Baskin, as it is structurally unsound. In its place high-density RDP flats will be built.
The women's hostel, Helen Joseph, dating back to 1981, is also to be converted into RDP flats, of which the residents will get full ownership. Linbro Park, across the N3 to the east of Alex, has been earmarked for housing expansion but this will be mixed-income housing.
Baskin says that the mixed housing model created in Alex has been duplicated in Bekkersdal and Evaton in Gauteng.
Private investments
He says the private sector has responded to the improvements in infrastructure, and has built new office developments on the periphery of the township, particularly in neighbouring Wynberg. Rand Merchant Bank is to build 1,000 flats in Marlboro, on the border of Alex.
The new Pan African shopping centre in Alex is set to open in March 2009, containing seven hectares of modern urban commercial space. It will house 1,000 recap taxis, and besides the chain brands, will have space for 350 traders' stalls. Once again, 450 households had to be removed before construction could start.
He points to the new Gautrain station site, on the northern edge of Alex in the new Extension 7 development, now under construction, saying that the township is on prime land and has become valuable real estate.
"The Gautrain makes Alexandra a destination, with value in its own right." – Lucille Davie
Article courtesy of City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za).
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