It will "require a miracle" if the eThekwini municipality - which embraces Durban and its surrounding areas - is to meet its "far-fetched" target of eradicating Durban's housing backlog by 2010, says the council's housing committee chairman S'bu Gumede.
His comments were reported in the SA Local Government Briefing released by the SA Local Government Research Centre headed by Alderman Clive Keegan. The centre is based in Cape Town.
The centre reported that Gumede told a recent committee meeting that the municipality's housing department would need to build twice as many houses every year if it planned to meet its goal within the next seven years. The council is currently building 16,000 homes a year.
The city's housing department head, Cogie Pather, said it was also under pressure to build bigger houses for the poor. At present, the municipality builds 30m2 houses but might have to increase this to between 36m2 and 40m2 to meet new national guidelines, the centre reported.
Gumede asked Pather to return to the committee with a presentation on the city's building programme. He also asked Pather to assess whether building 32,000 houses a year would be feasible. – I-Net Bridge
His comments were reported in the SA Local Government Briefing released by the SA Local Government Research Centre headed by Alderman Clive Keegan. The centre is based in Cape Town.
The centre reported that Gumede told a recent committee meeting that the municipality's housing department would need to build twice as many houses every year if it planned to meet its goal within the next seven years. The council is currently building 16,000 homes a year.
The city's housing department head, Cogie Pather, said it was also under pressure to build bigger houses for the poor. At present, the municipality builds 30m2 houses but might have to increase this to between 36m2 and 40m2 to meet new national guidelines, the centre reported.
Gumede asked Pather to return to the committee with a presentation on the city's building programme. He also asked Pather to assess whether building 32,000 houses a year would be feasible. – I-Net Bridge