"This system will be the department's tool for housing delivery as this will ease the pressure on those who have been waiting long while there was no housing project in their respective areas," said Housing MEC, Nomvula Mokonyane, on Tuesday.
Mokonyane said the project, to be launched on 24 February 2008, will be piloted in Sedibeng and Metsweding Municipalities and later be rolled out throughout the province.
"The line of march has been given by the Premier (Mbazima Shilowa) and in the spirit of 'Business Unusual', the department is certain that the expectation and mandate of the people of Gauteng shall be met come 2009," said Ms Mokonyane.
The MEC also announced that her department will this financial year deliver about 88,000 different housing units as part of ensuring a sustainable housing and human settlement process throughout the province.
"Our primary objective is to continue creating integrated communities and do away with the old apartheid system of spatial planning where people were segregated according to colour or wealth.
"We expect 297,760 people to benefit from this initiative . . . as we strive to fast track delivery, we are vigorously channelling our energies on the effective implementation of mixed housing development, eradication of informal settlements and the twenty prioritised township programme," Mokonyane said.
She said in the next financial year (2008/9), the department will continue with building identified projects and target to deliver 30,000 housing units.
"Through these projects, we have been and will continue to realise our objective of creating jobs with non-racial human settlements, crease those that will accommodate all and sundry, irrespective of ones' background, financial status or social standing," the MEC said.
Regarding alternative tenure (doing away with the hostels), MEC Mokonyane said the programme was targeting eradication of 13 hostels in the province.
She said in the same programme, 1,000 backyards were planned for implementation in areas such as Boipatong, Mamelodi, Atteridgeville and more will be identified in other prioritised townships.
"There is no doubt that there is a need to increase the output on the Atteridgeville Tenure programme as Gauteng continuously deals with challenges of immigration."
During the State of the Province Address on Monday, Shilowa said in terms of upgrading the 56 remaining informal settlements, 26,000 service stands will be provided with water and sanitation.
The Premier said this will help towards eradicating poverty and ensuring that people had basic water and access to services.
Reflecting on previous commitments and strides made in providing housing, Shilowa said life was improving for residents of informal settlements, as they received basic services.
"An increasing number of people who live in informal settlements are beginning to enjoy the taste of a better life as a result of our programme to formalise and eradicate informal settlements in our province.
"The people who previously lived without basic services in Zevenfontein and Riverbend informal settlement now have roads, water, electricity and proper toilets in Cosmo City where they were moved," the Premier said.
Shilowa explained that in 2004 the province undertook to, within five years, "formalise all informal settlements that existed at that time with a view to eradicating them by 2014".
"We said we would provide water and sanitation to every household in the province within five years."
Based on the 2004 commitment, the target was to formalise 122 informal settlements by 2009.
"To date, 66 informal settlements have been formalised and we have set a target of formalising a further 56 in 2008/9 to reach the target of 122. A total of 41 informal settlements have been eradicated."
Through the programme to formalise and eradicate informal settlements, 103,948 dwellings have been upgraded and provided with basic services, said Mr Shilowa.
"These sites are now ready for the construction of proper houses. In the year ahead, ten additional informal settlements will be eradicated and 13 hostels will be upgraded."
Shilowa said by the end of March this year the province would deliver 58,552 houses planned for the 2007/8 financial year. – Luyanda Makapela, BuaNews
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