Rustenburg: The department of human settlements in North West is expected to construct 97 houses for the military veterans in the province during this financial year.
Spokesperson Dineo Lolokwane said the project, which was expected to start soon. The project was revealed during the Military Veterans Housing Programme Project Steering Committee meeting held in Mahikeng.
“The province has had zero percent housing delivery for military veterans, allocation of stands by municipalities, bulk infrastructure and state of readiness, amongst other challenges, since 2020,” she said.
She said the challenge was of great concern to Jacky Mamabolo, the deputy director of people’s housing project and military veterans from the national Department of Human Settlements.
“Mamabolo expressed his concern during his presentation about the poor performance of the department dating back the past two years, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and other administrative challenges,“ said Lolokwane.
“He urged the province to put military veterans projects at the helm in the new financial year, as it has identified such projects as one of the priority projects that can be immediately implemented as part of the recovery plan in the 2022/23 financial year.”
Mamabolo had advised the department to ensure that it implement the projects that met the requirements and specifications of the military housing project, explaining that this would avoid putting the projects that were not ready for implementation on the business plan, and thus painting a negative picture when such projects could not kick start.
The provincial co-ordinator for the military veterans housing programme, Orapeleng Tabile, acknowledged the problems experienced for the period under review.
He said this was informed by various setbacks, which included the unavailability of serviced stands where approved beneficiaries should be built houses, the unavailability of geotechnical investigation reports for the areas or villages where construction of houses should be situated.
He said the department has managed to fast-track the appointment of a contractor in Moses Kotane Local Municipality, where six houses would be build for approved beneficiaries.
The process of contractor’s appointment was also at an advanced stage for Ganyesa and Lethabong in Rustenburg.
