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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System Date: 23 Sep 2008 Title: PE housing workshop to create delivery plan -------------------- By Proffesor Ndawonde Port Elizabeth - The Upgrade and Management of Informal Settlements in Nelson Mandela Bay housing workshop is expected to result in the formulation of a comprehensive housing delivery plan for the municipality. The two-day workshop, which kicked off on Monday, was convened to develop an agreed and workable strategy for the development of informal settlements in the area. The workshop would give housing stakeholders an opportunity to discuss and reach a consensus on the categorising of informal settlements, ranking criteria for relocation and developments as well as sustainability and management of informal settlements. According to the municipality, currently there were about 117 informal settlements in the municipal area with about 45 000 households and the families living in these areas were subjected to everyday squalor, degradation and indignity. "Some of these settlements are situated in floodplains, under powerlines, on road reserves and non-conducive, unsafe and unhealthy living conditions. In most cases unsuitable building material and density of these settlements render them prone to fires and related disasters." The municipality has, however, decisively resolved to relieve these families from such grimy conditions by putting together a programme to upgrade these settlements and eradicate all shacks by 2014. This process would use funding instruments provided by the government, such as the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme, the Grant Funding and the Emergency Housing Programme. The municipality said these instruments allow for a structured and progressive development that would be linked to the development of sustainable houses. "They support in-situ development where it is feasible, as well as relocation of communities to housing project areas." The municipality added that it was pursuing the resolutions of the Millennium Summit held in September 2000, which included eight Millennium Development Goals, eighteen targets and thirty two indicators. "One of the targets is to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020." - BuaNews |
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