South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa says more than 4,000 housing units will be built in Kimberly, Northern Cape, to tackle housing scarcity in the province, where approximately 162 informal settlements are located.
The launch of the project took place on Thursday and is expected to deliver 2,500 buildings in the first year.
Ramaphosa said a total of 4,168 houses are expected to be delivered ‘’during the life of the venture'', which is projected to cost at least 1 billion Rand ($53m).
There was no clarity on how long the entire project would last.
'Pressing need'
‘’The housing units established in this project will address the pressing need for housing opportunities in the province, where approximately 162 informal settlements and nearly 80 000 households lack adequate housing,’’ said Ramaphosa.
In August 2023, a 5-storey apartment block in Johannesburg housing mostly illegal migrants was engulfed by fire, killing at least 70 people.
The incident brought global attention to the hundreds of buildings in the Johannesburg CBD that are overcrowded, unregulated, and inhabited by a large number of undocumented migrants who convert abandoned buildings into informal settlements.
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