The City says it has appointed a team of consultants to assess the development possibilities of identified sites in Hangberg for phase 2 of a housing project there.
“The outcomes will be considered internally by the City before being presented to the people steering committee (PSC),“ said mayoral committee member for human settlements Carl Pophaim.
Hangberg residents have complained that they have waited for a decade for the housing project to get off the ground and want the City to give them a fixed date for its commencement (“Residents demand answers on Hangberg housing,” Sentinel, February 16).
In terms of the Hangberg Peace Accord, made an order of the court on 19 October 2011, housing would be developed in the Hangberg area in Hout Bay.
The City completed phase 1 in 2016 while phase 2 of the project has been in the planning for more than a decade and has yet to break ground amid the recent suspension of some City officials for allegedly colluding with the “construction mafia”, as reported on an online media site.
Community activist and PSC member Roscoe Jacobs said Mr Pophaim’s comments offered little clarity on when the project would actually start.
“It seems clear now that over the past five years there’s been no real intention from the City for houses to be built. The City is playing with the emotions with the community.
“If there was a clear intention, then the work that was previously done by the PSC and project manager would have been used as a point of departure. Why are we assessing land which has already been assessed in Hangberg? We’ve already had potential plans drawn up for these pieces of land,“ Mr Jacobs said.
Ward councillor Roberto Quintas said the appointment of the consultants represented the start of the next phase of housing development.
He said that in 2016, the City had handed over 72 new housing opportunities to the Hangberg community and “I’m excited to see what the consultants are able to provide in terms of what’s next for Hangberg housing.“
