Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi is working with provinces to revive thousands of housing projects that have been stalled due to various reasons, including the construction mafia.
Kubayi said there were 3,445 projects that have been blocked by the end of June last year.
She said they have started to identify projects that will be revived.
However, Kubayi said there were other factors that led to projects being blocked and this includes the invasion of land and protests in communities.
Kubayi, who was replying to a written parliamentary question, said they need to get the projects up and running again.
“The reason why projects get blocked is because of, but not limited to, poor performance by contractors. Some of which would have abandoned sites, lack of bulk Infrastructure and link services, illegal land occupation, geotechnical variations, construction mafia and community unrest,” said Kubayi.
She said in the previous financial year, her department put together a report to understand the reasons why projects were blocked or left incomplete.
The diagnostic report of the department found that there 3,445 blocked projects by the end of June last year.
“There were 3,445 blocked projects as at end of June 2022, A total of 2,872 of the identified blocked projects needed to be closed off once provinces concluded a reconciliation process that ensured that all the targeted outputs are satisfied.
“With the status of the 2,872 projects clarified, the national Department of Human Settlements and Provincial Departments of Human Settlements reached consensus that only 192 blocked projects would be supported in 2022/23 and 619 projects needed to be unblocked in the 2023/24 (320) and 2024/25 (299) financial years, respectively.
“Out of the 192 blocked projects monitored in 2022/23, 103 were activated and are ongoing implementation. The remaining 89 blocked projects have been carried over to the 2023/24,” said Kubayi.
Kubayi told parliament this week that they have roped in law enforcement agencies to help them to deal with the construction mafia.
She added that companies that are involved in projects have also beefed up their security to protect the sites.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics