Government has set itself a target of six million houses and housing opportunities by 2019, said President Jacob Zuma during a visit to the Vulindlela Rural Enhanced People’s Housing Process (EPHP) outside Pietermaritzburg. “We delivered 4.3 million houses and decent accommodation to our people since 1994. This has benefited about 20 million people.”
The Vulindlela EPHP aims to deliver 25 000 better human settlements to the value of R2.1 billion. The project is based on community contribution, partnerships and leveraging of additional resources. About 2 000 full-time employment opportunities have been created through the project, which also offers skills transfer during the construction programme.
KwaZulu-Natal Human Settlements MEC Ravi Pillay said: “This is a flagship mega project, made possible by maximum cooperation, coordination and the working together of government, Amakhosi, and the community.” “Already we have completed 12 300 houses and a further 3 700 are already in construction phase. It is also unique in the method used in the construction, which [uses] co-operatives as well as nursing small businesses in the community.”
Government, Pillay said, is already thinking of ways to sustain developmental skills and capacity, as well as to keep the community economically active when the project ends in 2018.
