Zille and Dyanti meet to discuss housing challenges

By Celeste Ganga
11 July 2007

The City of Cape Town’s and the Local Department of Housing met on Tuesday to discuss the obstacles concerned with the N2 Gateway Project and housing in the city.

Provincial Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi and Mayor Helen Zille gathered in their first meeting since the council was removed from the project in June last year.

“The core obstacle that is being faced with regards to housing is the availability of land. Another problem being faced is the shortages of Project Managers,” says spokesperson for the Mayor, Robert Macdonald.

“We need more people so that we can speed up the capacity”, says Macdonald.

The city needs 1000 hectors of land to house all the people who need homes. It will cost R1, 2 billion to house everyone currently residing in the metro.

“We are aiming to build 20 000 houses a year. But because of the challenges being faced this is not possible,” says Macdonald.

In 2006, a total of 5 500 houses were built. Thus far 8 500 houses have been built in this year. The N2 Gateway’s 30 000 units are expected to be completed by 2010.