As the HDA’s mandate is to promote the creation of integrated and sustainable communities (human settlements) on strategically located land, legislation geared towards fostering economic development, such as the Special Economic Zones Act (SEZA), have a direct bearing on our mandate.
It is in this regard that the HDA proactively hosted a policy brief workshop with the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) on 4 February to address the broad questions about the spatially targeted approach to development.
This workshop presented and looked at key areas of convergence between the HDA’s Priority Housing Development Areas (PHDAs) policy and the SEZA, focusing on the relevance and/or implications of the SEZA to the PHDAs.
The purpose of the workshop was to inform policy debate by delivering a progressive commentary on issues of synergy of these two policies.
The aim and objectives of the workshop were to:
In line with these strategic objectives, the desired outcome from the workshop was to develop a paper on the impact of the spatially targeted approach to development, so as to contribute to and inform policy debate on such matters.
The workshop was very informative to both dti and HDA officials.
“We hope to have further fruitful engagements between the two institutions, to build a good and long-term working relationship,” said Karishma Busgeeth, Senior Manager: Knowledge Management and Research (HDA).
For more information about the PHDA contact Karishma Busgeeth via email on karishma.busgeeth@thehda.co.za.
