Tshwane to upgrade at least 226 informal settlements

Pretoria – The City of Tshwane intends transforming at least 226 informal settlements within the next financial year.

Chief of staff Jordan Griffith said the City had a budget to provide running water, electricity and stands to informal settlements which had registered names and appeared in the mapped landscape.

Some of the 19 informal settlements earmarked for formalisation in the upcoming financial year include Ga-Rankuwa Unit 15, Klerksoord Extension 32, Mabopane Extension 11, Nellmapius Extension 22, Soshanguve Block T, Stinkwater Extension 10 and Pienaarspoort Extension 20 and 21.

At least eight informal settlements are undergoing formalisation in the current financial year.

However, according to the City, the areas targeted for the next three years would see 71 880 households provided with formal and permanent stands.

Griffith said the strategy would largely be funded through the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Partnership Grant, and was focused on providing basic services like water, sewers and electricity in informal settlements.

Mayor Randall Williams said the draft 2021/22 budget for the Department of Human Settlements made a provision for a capital budget of R840 121 587 and an operational budget of R395 million.

He said this prioritised the upgrading of informal settlements.

Williams said they had a budget R187m for water reticulation, R186.4m for sewer reticulation, R263.8m for roads and stormwater construction, R30m for hostel redevelopment, and R10m for land acquisition.

He said: “The funding allocated in terms of the draft budget will enable the department to speed up the formalisation of 19 identified informal settlements, to achieve township establishments, while providing over 138 informal settlements with temporary services until formal services are installed.

“The prioritisation of upgrading informal settlements is crucial so that we can provide quality bulk infrastructure to these areas. This will ensure that we move towards formalisation, so that they can proceed with proper township establishment processes for these settlements.”

The Utility Services Department is installing bulk and internal water and sewer services, to support Human Settlements developments, which include the Rama City Mega Project. The City will construct bulk water and sewer reticulation networks for 1 660 stands.

For the Nellmapius Willows Mega Project, it will construct water and sewer reticulation networks, to support Phase 1 of 200 housing units.

The Hammanskraal West Extension 10 construction of bulk water and sewer reticulation networks, to support 2 776 households, as part of the upgrading of informal settlements programme, was also in the pipeline.

There is also an upgrade to the Nellmapius Extension 2 construction of a sewer network, as part of the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Partnership Grant, to support about 358 stands; the construction of water and sewer reticulation services for 1 051 stands in Phomolong in Mamelodi Extension 6, as well as the Mabopane Extension 12 construction of water and sewer networks, to benefit 538 families.

According to the State of Human Rights Report, launched by the Gauteng office of the SA Human Rights Commission, 16.4% of Tshwane households lived in informal settlements, an indication of the number of households and the number of people still living in inadequate housing.

Pretoria News