The MMC for Human Settlements, Cllr Anthea Leitch, joined Ward 96 Cllr Rufus Maswazi and Executive Director for Human Settlements Patrick Phophi in Region A on Friday to hand over title deeds to beneficiaries. What made this occasion different was that there was no official ceremony or fanfare, but Cllr Leitch went from home to home to meet beneficiaries and give them their prized new title deed document personally. Around 900 title deeds are due to be issued while the department closes the backlog on its annual target for title deed registrations. Recipients were overjoyed at the visit and MMC Leitch said: “I was pleased to visit this development, where units were handed over to beneficiaries a few years ago. It’s good to see how people have been living and to see the difference these BNG projects make. Having title deeds is another important milestone for beneficiaries.”
The title deeds were for units that formed part of a tripartite sale agreement dating back to 2012 between the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, the City of Johannesburg Property Company and Valumax Northern Farms.
The agreement granted Valumax development rights for about 60 hectares of land for the development of Diepsloot Ext 12.
In 2015 an agreement between the City and Valumax was signed for the construction of 1,299 units over a period of three years and these units were completed by 2018 and an addendum signed.
The tripartite agreement was concluded in October 2018 among COJ, the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements and Valumax.
Valumax was appointed to develop 2,912 housing units for a further three years.
The Riverside RDP units were rolled out over three phases. In total, 4,141 housing units have been constructed and allocated between 2017 and 2022, which significantly contributed to alleviating the housing backlog in Johannesburg.
MMC Leitch will in the coming weeks attend a second phase of the handover process of title deeds for some of the remaining units in a more formal programme.
Written by Cala Schultz
18/03/2024
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