Central line relocations: City assisting Prasa, HDA with development application
29 August 2023
The City of Cape Town is playing its role as the independent planning authority which must preside over Prasa (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa) and the Housing Development Agency’s (HDA) application for the relocation of central line unlawful occupants. The City is required to impartially administer this application process under the Municipal Planning By-Law, and is currently assisting Prasa’s implementing agent, HDA, to pass compliance and completion checks for their submission dated 7 August.
The central line was subjected to a land invasion just before the national Covid-19 lockdown. Prasa approached the High Court for an eviction order having failed to secure its land against unlawful occupation. The order includes the provision of alternative emergency occupation, with Prasa appointing HDA to undertake land acquisition, planning approval applications, and relocation of the unlawful occupants.
As per the signed Intergovernmental Protocol agreement, Prasa, and HDA as its appointed agent, are responsible for the relocation, while the City's role is limited to that of planning authority, and the provision of basic services.
For months, City officials have held detailed engagements with Prasa and the HDA's appointed planning consultants to support their submission of a development application, which was ultimately submitted on 7 August. Officials are currently supporting the HDA to pass compliance and completion checks for the application.
In an update to Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on 29 August, HDA reported that it has concluded the acquisition of land for Phase 1 of the relocation, with acquisition processes for Phase 2 currently ongoing.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis attended the Scopa hearing on behalf of the City, with the Western Cape Government also represented.
'We must be clear that the City was neither the applicant in this eviction, nor are we the landowner of the unlawfully occupied line or the proposed land for relocation. Prasa and their agent, the HDA, are fully responsible for the relocation and obtaining the necessary funding and approvals for this.
'We have repeatedly and consistently made it clear we will not take responsibility for Prasa's central line relocation programme, nor the buying of land for another government entity. They are perfectly capable of buying it themselves, and this process is ongoing via the HDA.
'Of the R111m in unsolicited funding sent to the City by National Human Settlements on the eve of national government's financial year-end, R61m is being allocated to informal settlements upgrading projects subject to National Treasury approvals. The City has further returned the remaining R50m to National Treasury based on the Human Settlements Minister's desire for this to go towards land acquisition and central line relocations.
'National Treasury may in turn reallocate this R50 million to the HDA, which had already acquired land for Phase 1 of the relocations at the time of the transfer of funding to the City. HDA is further in the process of identifying land for Phase 2.
'We are ready to play our part as the independent planning authority in line with the intergovernmental protocol agreement. We want to see trains running in our city, and that includes the devolution of passenger rail for the City to run in the best interests of commuters,' said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
