MAHIKENG MAIL-MAHIKENG: A total budget of R198 million has been allocated to eradicate 1 356 mud houses in the North West Province, with 579 of these units already delivered.
According to Maloyi, it cannot be correct that there are still people who are living in these dire conditions. “It is therefore that as the provincial government we have taken a stand to prioritise the eradication of these mud houses as part of restoring the dignity of many residents who still live in such conditions”
Although there were challenges, Maloyi said the province has experienced unprecedented levels of development in the last 30 years. He said that the number of households had increased from 591 145 in 1996 to over 1.14 million in 2022. This depicts an upward trend of eighty eight percent (88 percent) of formal housing in the province.
“When the 6th administration assumed office in 2019, the government made a commitment to ensure that communities are provided with adequate housing. I am proud to announce that since 2019 to 2023, we constructed 19 307 houses, and in 2023 we delivered 2 768 houses to their rightful beneficiaries,” said Maloyi.
With regards to the Deelpan Floods intervention programme, Acting Premier Maloyi announced that the provincial government has cleared all the hurdles that delayed the project and 104 houses will be completed at the end of March 2024. A further 317 houses will be built following the donation of land by Kgosi Kogodi Molete of Bakolobeng and his Traditional Council.
In addition, Maloyi said they will be launching the R2.6 billion N14 mixed development project in Ventersdorp. This development will see installation of bulk services for 4000 sites and create over600 jobs for local people through the construction of Breaking New Ground, Social Housing and bonded stock. “This is part of efforts by the provincial government to changing the image and restoring dignity of our people in Ventersdorp whom were subjected to bad history of occupation by a right-wing racist group called AWB.”
Maloyi added that the provincial government will continue to ramp up the title deeds restoration programme that seeks to hand over title deeds to rightful owners across the province through the integrated service delivery approach called Thuntsha Lerole. To date 6 283 title deeds have been handed over to beneficiaries across the province.
Lastly, Acting Premier Maloyi announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese National Import and Export Corporation, and part of their project investment is a commitment to invest further resources to assist eradicate mud houses in the province by building 500 houses every year, for the duration of this Memorandum of Understanding.
This project is expected to create a minimum of over 10 000 jobs.
