Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale on Friday assigned new powers to a number of major cities for human settlements development in the hope of accelerating delivery and improving expenditure patterns.

The level two-accreditation status that was passed on from provincial governments to the municipalities would enable them to approve and manage housing construction programmes and ensure technical quality assurances.

The cities that had been granted the status included Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay and Cape Town, as well as the Frances Baard and Pixley ka Seme district municipalities in the Northern Cape.

The Minister hoped that the additional responsibility taken on by the municipalities would result in more integrated planning of new housing projects and improved service delivery.

“These are significant responsibilities, and also a critical tool for municipalities to use to coordinate their housing decisions with other decisions that relate to the broader sustainability of human settlements,” said Sexwale.

The Human Settlements Department and the National Treasury also developed a new metropolitan funding framework known as the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) to further improve coordination of planning, funding, and the implementation of human settlements leave at local and provincial of government level.

This would see metropolitan municipalities directly receiving the grant from the national department to address infrastructure needs.

“It is the policy intention of national and provincial human settlements departments to continue to expand the role of municipalities in the management and development of sustainable and integrated human settlements,” Sexwale added.