The City of Cape Town is set to provide decent homes for hostel-dwelling residents in Langa.
Construction of 463 rental apartments in Langa could commence in October as part of the first phase of the City’s Hostel Transformation Programme.
The 463 apartments will be built over the next two years with an additional 837 units provisionally planned for completion within the next five years.
It is envisioned that 1 300 families, or approximately 5 200 people, will be relocated from hostels to secure, two-bedroomed apartments in Langa, equipped with individual kitchenettes, toilets, showers, solar-heated water systems, wash-lines and space for children to play safely on the grounds.
The first beneficiaries who will be identified are existing hostel tenants in “New Flats” and “Special Quarters”. Residents of Siyahlala informal settlement are also earmarked project beneficiaries. The newly-established Project Steering Committee will assist in identifying and verifying beneficiaries.
The City’s overall Hostel Transformation Programme consists of an estimated 15 000 units that will eventually be built in Langa, Gugulethu and Nyanga.
“This programme will provide apartments for families who have been living in the appalling conditions prevailing in the hostels of Langa, Gugulethu and Nyanga for the past 40 years. As part of our endeavours to create a Caring and Safe City, this project will see families move from the indignity of their present living conditions inherited from our Apartheid past,” says the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Tandeka Gqada.
In line with the City’s densification policy, designed to maximise the efficiency of services for existing infrastructure, the apartments will be developed in three- and four-storey blocks.
The programme implementation depends on the acquisition of sufficient land and a consistent stream of funding. The City has made available R170 million for the construction of the first units in Langa. It is estimated the entire programme, comprising 15 000 units, will cost approximately R5,6 billion (excluding the cost of the land).
