Cape Town - The old Conradie Hospital site in Pinelands, one of the City’s joint central social housing projects with the provincial government, is making steady progress, says Mayco member for human settlements Malusi Booi.
In September it was revealed that phase one of construction at Conradie Park was nearly finished and beneficiaries were set to move in between November and February next year.
This first phase consists of 432 social housing units and is the first tranche of the 1 250 units envisioned for the development which will be managed by social housing institution Own Haven Housing Association.
Booi went on a walkabout of the project yesterday during which he discussed the vision for the site as well as others across the Cape Town central area, and other urban centres across Cape Town with developers.
Booi listed other social housing projects at various stages and said those nearing construction phase included Pine Road, where about 240 social housing units are being built.
“Potential projects at early feasibility stage in the inner city pipeline include the Fruit and Veg site in Roeland Street, Cape Town, while projects undergoing land use management processes to be made available for social housing include New Market and Pickwick.”
Booi also mentioned Woodstock Hospital precinct on the list but said the development had been delayed by “an orchestrated building hijacking which occurred in 2017.”
These were the same sites referenced by Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia De Lille when she was in Cape Town campaigning for Good Party mayoral candidate Brett Herron.
At the time, De Lille said: “The City of Cape Town has thousands of land parcels ready to be used for housing. The claim that the City cannot provide affordable housing because it has a shortage of land is a lie.
“In 2017 we identified 11 parcels of land in Woodstock, Salt River and the Inner City for affordable housing purposes. Each of the five sites has a threshold of social housing that had to be met by the private developer.
“These sites were located at Roeland Street, Pickwick Street in Salt River; Woodstock Hospital; a public open space adjacent to the Woodstock Hospital and New Market Street, and a site next to the Good Hope Centre currently being used as a parking lot,” said De Lille.