APPROXIMATELY 25 000 households in Nelson Mandela Bay are set to benefit from the implementation of 141 human settlements projects, after the metro secured more than R300 million from national government to upgrade informal settlements.
The Informal Settlement Upgrading Partnership Grant (ISUPG) will be used for the installation of water and sanitation infrastructure, and electrification of informal settlements in the upcoming 2023/24 financial year.
The 156 approved informal settlements across the metro will benefit from this grant. As per the current business plan, this is a total 25 202 households.
Nelson Mandela Bay MMC for Human Settlements, Tukela Zumani, said the project seeks to improve the livelihood of Nelson Mandela Bay residents living in informal settlements.
The national government, through the Division of Revenue Act, gazetted R349 635 000 for this project.
“The Human Rights Package includes sanitation, water and electricity, which are compulsory – but electricity is optional, depending on the availability of funds.
“Our business plan includes the security of tenure and formalisation, be it settlement-wide or functional, and title deeds, permanent infrastructure, including land acquisition, bulk infrastructure, individual municipal engineering services and serviced sites,” said Zumani.
He added that social and economic amenities were included in the business plan, following input from all relevant directorates.
The municipality also engaged with residents extensively, following several public meetings that were held across the metro.
These meetings were to consult with the affected communities in order to incorporate their input in the business plan, before submitting it to national government in preparation for the release of the funds.
“We [encouraged] all residents in the affected areas to come out in numbers to engage with the municipality, and ensure that their inputs are recorded so that they can enjoy the services they need.
Public participation is a key factor in the process of finalising the business plan where councillors and communities will have a final opinion on the submission,” said Zumani.
“We want the projects to run smoothly when the new financial year starts and we [wanted] to conduct thorough consultation in order to avoid protest action.”
– ISSUED BY THE NELSON MANDELA BAY COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
