Housing in Southern Africa November 2015

Housing Malibongwe Ridge

Zippy three-wheeler Tu k Tu k s r e ce n t l y took camera crews , provincial, local and nat ional digni tar ies on site visits around Ma l i b o n gwe R i d g e development , North West of Johannesburg. All guests then joined in the celebrations to honour World Habitat Day with the Itsoseng informal residents at Malibongwe Ridge.

H eld in October, the ‘Born with Dignity’ event honouredWorld Habitat Day, held during Oc- tober, and it was an opportunity for Codevco, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Basil Read, to conduct site visits as Phase One of the innovative housing development nears completion. The innovative Gauteng Depart- ment of Local Government and Hous- ing and the City of Johannesburg project is located 20 km from the CBD and borders Cosmo City. Codevco, the implementing arm for the City of Jo- hannesburg, will provide 489 serviced stands and 486 houses in Phase One. The development will create 11 100 job opportunities in an economically distressed environment. Skills devel- opment in construction and entre- preneurial programmes will improve the community’s employability, and 5 600 jobs post construction. Of the 164 ha site, 112 ha is developed. The

scope of the work includes 3 510 fully subsidised houses, 646 Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme units, 464 fully bonded units and 894 high density residential units – a total of 5 514 units. Four sites have been zoned for urban agriculture. The City of Johannesburg De- partment of Development Planning Strategic Advisor, Bongani Nkosi said, “There is a huge appetite for housing developments close to economic activity and it was important for the city to play a big role in ensuring that housing needs in this area being met. The Department is the custodian of planning throughout the city.” He added that the city has spent over R500 million to ensure that people receive decent housing. These housing developments are meant to improve the lives of the people in these communities and this includes providing schools and

November 2015