President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a housing project worth over R30 billion in Pretoria.
Ramaphosa says the Mooikloof Mega Residential City project in Pretoria will create over 40 000 jobs.
Speaking at the launch of the first phase of the project, he says the initiative is a partnership between government and the private sector. Ramaphosa says infrastructure development is key to attaining economic recovery.
“The Mooikloof integrated development has a total value of R84 billion and is one of the strategic infrastructure projects that we gazetted at the end of July and that demonstrates the seriousness with which as a government we are approaching infrastructure. We were able to raise an unlock over R340 billion in private sector investment in various economic sectors of our country,” says Ramaphosa.
“The launch of the Mooikloof development is the outcome of a successful public-private partnership. I want to congratulate the developers Balwin Properties, the provincial government, and the City of Tshwane for their commitment to bringing this project to
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) October 4, 2020
Also speaking during the launch, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille said government’s aim was to promote integration among communities by helping those who have no access to housing to obtain home loans from banks.
She says the project will address apartheid spatial planning and bring about social justice.
De Lille says the initiative is in line with government’s Batho Pele principle.
“The mixed-use development will also add to integrating our cities. I think that is a mission of the government that we want to integrate our cities and we need to provide decent housing also for our people. We’re certainly looking forward to infrastructure investment that will lead to economic growth and that this must create major jobs we want to see a lot of jobs created for our people,” says De Lille.
De Lille has emphasised the importance of empowering communities around the Mooikloof Mega Residential City project.
She says the housing development will create much-needed jobs. De Lille says local members of the community will be the first to benefit from the project.
“A key part of the projects will also be community participation in social facilitation. We will make sure that we bring local labour, local people, the local community must own these projects and that process is also ongoing. We must empower more black-owned women construction companies so that we can distribute the skills evenly within the construction companies,” says De Lille.
Below is the video of the launch of the project and the President’s address:
