Construction of some City housing projects resumes
20 May 2020
The City of Cape Town is pleased to announce that construction on some of its key housing projects has got under way, within the COVID-19 health and safety regulations.
The City is dedicated to making up for the time lost due to the implementation of the national lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But only projects where the required COVID-19 health and safety regulations have been met, will commence. Contractor assessments are still under way for some of the projects.
Community and beneficiary support will however be the most important ingredient to ensure progress is made within the shortest possible time.
The current Level 4 lockdown regulations allow for civil engineering for public works, such as subsidised housing projects, to resume. It is the responsibility of the employer or contractor, in this case, to ensure work is done in accordance with COVID-19 health and safety standards, including social distancing, enhanced sanitising such as hand washing and ensuring workers have access to Personal Protective Equipment.
‘This is a new world and we are adapting our programmes and projects to this changed reality. Thanks to all City project managers and teams as well as the contractor teams for the hard work and absolute dedication to get us going again in service of our beneficiaries.
‘Subsidy housing projects in Kraaifontein, Harare Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Macassar, Masiphumelele, Simon’s Town and Helderberg areas are resuming from this week onwards. Some informal settlements projects such as in Imizamo Yethu, Mfuleni and Wallacedene have also commenced. During this time, beneficiary and community support of our projects remain vital. The City will do its best to catch up on projects that have been delayed by the national lockdown. The City is using its panel of contractors tender, which was put in place, to enable more timeous and efficient contractor and supplier services where possible. We are hoping this tender, which covers some of our projects, will go a long way to helping us to get back on track,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi.
In October 2017, an innovative tender to the value of R353 million was advertised by the City for the appointment of a panel of home building contractors for the construction of much-needed subsidy housing in the metro. The tender proactively covers all services from site clearing to the delivery of the final subsidy house and is proving useful during these times especially.
In terms of the Section 33 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, (Act 56 of 2003), the City invited comment from the local community, other interested people, the National and Provincial Treasury, as well as the National Department responsible for Local Government. Then, after a thorough evaluation process, undertaken in accordance with the Supply Chain Management Policy, the City’s Bid Adjudication Committee, which holds all of its meetings in public, recommended the tender be awarded. Council approved the five-year tender on 28 March 2019 and the tender has been valuable since implementation.
Basic service delivery in vulnerable areas and informal settlements also continue unabated. Work on the creation of healthier spaces in very highly populated informal settlements carries on in an effort to reduce the rate of COVID-19 infection. The City is supporting the Western Cape and National governments in efforts to relocate residents amid the health crisis. Plans are also being finalised for enhanced COVID-19 services in priority public housing developments and hostels. Thanks to the various City departments for working hard to ensure that we all get through this crisis together. As one city, together, we will get through this,’ said Councillor Booi.
For more information go to www.capetown.gov.za/coronavirus
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
