Infrastructure
(a) What is the current status of the City of Cape Town’s inner-city housing projects supported or overseen by his Department, (b) what are the projected timelines for each project’s key phases, namely (i) planning, (ii) procurement, (iii) construction and (iv) completion, (c) what are the estimated costs of each project, (d) how many housing units in each project have been or will be deliver upon completion, (e) what factors, if any, are contributing to delays in each project and (f) what actions is the Department taking to address or mitigate these delays?
- There are currently six (6) City of Cape Town inner-city housing projects being supported by my Department. Each of these land releases is being managed by the City of Cape Town, via an Offer to Purchase (OTP) agreement with the relevant successful developer. The projects are all at different stages of planning, packaging and implementation. The projects are identified by means of the land parcel, under consideration, and these are as follows: Pine Road, Dillon Lane, Salt River Market, Pickwick Street, New Market Street, Fruit and Veg (Zonnebloem).
- (i)(ii)(iii)(iv) See responses in the table below:
Project Name | (i) Planning | (ii) Procurement | (iii) Construction | (iv) Completion |
Pine Road | All land use approvals are in place. Project feasibility dependent on funding approval from the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), including additional geotechnical variance, due to local site conditions. | Land Release awarded in October 2019. | Project viability dependant on SHRA funding. | Date to be determined. |
Dillon Lane | All land use approvals are in place. Project feasibility dependent on funding approval from the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), including additional geotechnical variance, due to local site conditions | Land Release awarded in October 2019. | Project viability dependant on SHRA funding.
| Date to be confirmed. |
Salt River Market | All land use approvals are in place. The SHRA has approved project funding. Approval is conditional on the City of Cape Town providing the vacant occupation of the site. | Land Release awarded in July 2022. | Tender documents are being prepared for the procurement of a contractor. | Date to be confirmed. |
Pickwick Street | All land use approvals are in place with SDP to be finalised. Project to serve at the Provincial Steering Committee PSC) on Social Housing for support and to be submitted to the SHRA for funding approval. | Land Release awarded in October 2023. | Project viability dependant on SHRA funding and the provision of USDG funding by the City of Cape Town. Funding to be secured before tendering the construction works. | Date to be confirmed. |
New Market Street | All land use approvals are in place with SDP to be finalised. Project to serve at the Provincial Steering Committee (PSC) on Social Housing for support and to be submitted to the SHRA for funding approval. | Land Release awarded in January 2024. | Project viability dependant on SHRA funding and the provision of USDG funding by the City of Cape Town. Funding to be secured before tendering the construction works. | Date to be confirmed. |
Fruit and Veg (Zonnebloem) | All land use approvals are in place with SDP to be finalised. Project to serve at the Provincial Steering Committee (PSC) on Social Housing for support and to be submitted to the SHRA for funding approval. | Land Release awarded in August 2025. | Project viability dependant on SHRA funding. Alternative funding models to be considered by the City of Cape Town. | Date to be confirmed. |
(c)&(d) See responses in the table below.
Project Name | Estimated Grant Funding | Estimated Social Housing Units |
Pine Road | R114 million | 267 |
Dillon Lane | R64 million | 150 |
Salt River Market | R128 million | 300 |
Pickwick Street | R358 million | 840 |
New Market Street | R160 million | 375 |
Fruit and Veg | R101 million | 237 |
- While significant progress has been made across the inner-city housing projects, under the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Land Release Priority Programme, delays with project implementation are primarily linked to funding uncertainty of the Consolidated Capital Grant (CCG), that is approved by the SHRA for social housing projects. The social housing programme is significantly underfunded, with the number of new packaged social housing projects far exceeding the allocation of the CCG funding from the National Department of Human Settlements. My Department has been advocating an additional allocation to the Western Cape, for the social housing pipeline to be funded. Other delays are due to statutory approvals, infrastructure constraints, complex land-release processes, and technical readiness requirements, and have been mitigated as best possible, by the City of Cape Town. The City has undertaken the land use approval processes, before land parcels are released to the market. This land enablement has provided significant benefit to developers, by providing levels of statutory certainty.
- My Department is working closely with the City of Cape Town, the SHRA, and key delivery partners, to accelerate the delivery of affordable rental opportunities within the Metro. There are regular engagements between the Province and City to ensure that any delays and constraints are addressed. This includes strengthened oversight through Project Steering Committee (PSC) for Social Housing and other intergovernmental coordination platforms to unblock approvals, monitor progress, to advocate where required and to ensure timely decision-making.
