Princess: R1 billion to be spent on housing
R1 billion budget announced at official opening of the Princess Housing Project.
The Princess Plots Housing Project (PPHP) has officially been launched yesterday (Monday 6 July) by the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements MEC Jacob Mamambolo.
The department partnered with the City of Johannesburg to ensure the long-awaited project is not further delayed. Mamabolo was joined by City of Johannesburg Housing MMC Dan Bovu in a large tent at the Princess Sports Grounds to share the big news with informal settlers.
According to the department’s head of communications Victor Moreriane, PPHP will consist of mixed tenure, mixed density and mixed land use and will accommodate more than 4300 beneficiaries once complete.
The project will be implemented in six phases and the first phase is to be completed by June 2016. The first phase will be constructed as the Show Village Development, comprising of 281 dwelling units and developed on the Township of Princess Ext 22.
“It is going to be a massive project,” MEC Mamabolo told the Record.
“The idea is to create a precinct of mixed housing development, both RDP housing and rental units for those that do not qualify as RDP beneficiaries.”
Mamabolo said PPHP over the course of its six phases will cost at least R1 billion.
On Monday Mamabolo and Bovu warned informal settlers against letting newcomers settle down in what will become their old shacks, once they move out.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want a single shack in Princess.”
Big promises were made with regards to job creation in Princess during the development and the possible installation of biometric technology (fingerprint recognisers) to ensure the units are only used by those it is allocated to.
As far as the housing list goes, Mamabolo said once the first phase housing is completed, the list will officially be audited to ensure rightful beneficiaries move in.
MMC Economic Development Roslyn Greeff, MMC Environment and Infrastructure Services Matshidiso Mfikoe and MMC Health and Social Development Nonceba Molwele were also in attendance.
Notably neither DA ward councillors Carl Mann (Ward 85) or Gert Niemand (Ward 71) attended the official launch, allegedly because they were not properly briefed or even invited.
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