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On the Tuesday and Wednesday 17th and 18th May, Provincial Minister of Infrastructure Tertuis Simmers, engaged Councillors from the Sub-Councils 21(Kuilsriver) and 17 (Mitchells Plain) respectively including a site visit to the Welmoed reservoir construction site.

Following the delivery of the 2022/23 Budget as well as the pronouncements of the new Department of Infrastructure, these engagements were important to appraise the various Sub-Councils on developments on the human settlements projects within their ward boundaries.    

Minister Simmers said: “I am delighted to have had the opportunity to engage the two sub-councils to further provide clarity on our strategic programme for human settlements for the current financial year. 

It was also an opportune platform to articulate the new delivery model given the fiscally constrained environment as well as the long term in creating intergrated communities across the Metro. 

We acknowledge the significant role that Sub-Councils play in the delivery of human settlements and the restoration of our citizens’ dignities and eradicating the housing backlog.

By maintaining a transparent and prolific working relationship between the two spheres of government, we are able to deal with challenges and community dynamics as partners.”

These engagements commenced with the Councillors and executive of Sub-Council 21 where matters related to the to the department’s projects, project progress, successes and challenges were discussed in detail. 

Most importantly, was the strengthening of transparent and conducive collaboration between the spheres of government. 

As part of this engagement, Minister visited the Welmoed reservoir site, which forms part of the greater Welmoed Estate project which is envisaged to yield 8000 housing opportunities upon completion was also visited.

The second leg of these engagements focussed on the Sub-Council 17 which is the host to one of our flagship projects, the Farm 694 housing project. The construction at this site commenced in September 2019, with 32 Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) opportunities created.

The project will see the true fruition of integration as beneficiaries from two communities (Kosovo and New Woodlands) will occupy the allocated 434 housing on a 50/50 split, respectively. 

Minister Simmers further stated “I am further pleased to witness the progress on the site and overjoyed by the prospect of the first batch of beneficiaries occupying their new homes in the coming weeks. 

This project will serve as a flagship in our aims to create intergrated human settlements as we will be accommodating beneficiaries from two differing background and will create a new settlement. 

I would like to commend the community members, government officials and partners who have worked tirelessly to ensure that this development reaches this stage of construction.

I also want to reiterate the importance of remaining committed to the partnerships formed through this project and not allow unwarranted squabbles to derail the great work done here.

“As the Western Cape Government, we remain committed to accelerating human settlement delivery, while promoting social inclusion through the development of integrated, resilient, safe and sustainable human settlements in an open opportunity society,” concluded Simmers.

Issued by Western Cape Infrastructure