PHUTI MOSOMANE
On Friday, the Minister of Human Settlements, Mamoloko Kubayi, announced that starting from April 1, all RDP houses built by the government will be equipped with solar panels, in order to minimize the effects of load shedding.
Kubayi said that this decision is part of the government’s ongoing efforts to ensure continuous improvement of basic services for all citizens.
“The enhancements I am about to announce will improve access to basic services for poor households and security for the vulnerable. Concerning newly built government-subsidised homes, as per the MINMEC decision, they will change to improving household lives and contributing to economic activities,” she said.
Each RDP housing unit will be equipped with a solar kit to ensure that households have access to basic electricity.
According to Kubayi, this change will enable households that are located far from electricity infrastructure to have access to electricity.
“This will also help reduce the network load and municipal financial stability. We are cognisant of the concerns raised around security and the rising incidence of theft of solar and associated components.”
“We are planning to work with the security cluster and the community forums to find a way to secure these units. We have been in contact with the team at the University of Johannesburg that has done work in the provision of solar solutions in village/rural settings,” she said.
For persons with disabilities, burglar bars will be installed to ensure better protection and reduce vulnerability “to burglaries and other security issues.”
“For this reason, all the units delivered to persons with disabilities will be fitted with burglar bars,” she added.
The department will also provide rainwater harvesting devices in rural areas to ensure that rural communities have access to essential water services.
Briefing the media on Friday, Kubayi said there is a need to outline how the government is responding to the changing economic, climatic and environmental conditions in the human settlements sector.
She said the government is compelled to effect another increase; otherwise, more projects will be left incomplete and construction companies will find it hard to survive.
“We have therefore decided to make the following changes: and we are increasing the subsidy quantum with 29.7% for the 2023/2024 financial year, mainly to address the ever-increasing building costs,” she said.
The adjustment will ensure that the government speed up the pace of delivery and also deal with the quality of homes we provide to beneficiaries.
From the 1st of April 2023, in real terms, our housing programmes will be adjusted as follows:
• BNG (RDP) services and top structure will move from R196 887 to R255 364
• House for persons with disabilities will move from R209 071 to R271 166
• Military veterans’ houses will move from R240 607 to R312 069
• First Home Finance will move from R130 505 to R169 265
• Social housing will move from R327 667 to R424 984
Kubayi said adjustments will be able to accelerate housing delivery and avoid projects being abandoned.
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