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The Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu says contractors in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality will receive training to make sure that they graduate from being small to established ones.

National government has over the next three years allocated R4, 6 billion following a Cabinet decision in April to assist the municipality speed up housing delivery.

Speaking to contractors at the City Hall this afternoon, Sisulu said: “I have your interest at heart and it my intention to make sure that you graduate from being small contractors to being established ones.”

Sisulu said the work of contractors who were already working on housing projects in the city would continue. They had nothing to fear from the national government assistance being rolled out by the Housing Development Agency (HDA) in the municipality.

“We are here to support you. Nothing is going to change and you are not going to suffer as a result of these changes. We want you to accept us,” she told contractors.

The National African Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) asked that 90 percent of the work be allocated to local businesses; that small medium and micro enterpises be contracted directly with the HDA; that HDA engage material suppliers on their behalf; and that they be mentored to be able to deliver better houses for the people of Nelson Mandela Municipality, among others.

The meeting agreed that the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) would set up an incubator programme in the municipality for the small contractors to train them in all facets of construction from finance to project management.

“The key to our work is partnerships and we all need to focus on our core business to make sure that we deliver faster and better quality houses to show people that we are committed to what we say we want to do,” said Sisulu.

The Minister reiterated the point that the assistance provided to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality was at the request of for the former Executive Mayor and its entire council because delivery on human settlements had slowed down over the years.

Before this, the metro was doing well in terms of housing delivery and it had become the victim of its own success.

The aim of the Cabinet endorsed decision was to make sure that the municipality delivered at the rate that they were used to, faster and quality products that would not need rectification in future.

Issued by The Department of Human Settlements