Special attention is being paid to ways of speeding up the development of sustainable human settlements in the Nelson Mandela Metro.
A workshop was held on 22 and 23 June, organised by the National Department of Human Settlements in collaboration with the HDA, the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements, the metro and a number of human settlements institutions.
Particular attention was paid to the obstacles encountered by developers and government.
The day was opened with addresses from the Acting Director-General of Human Settlements, Mr Mbulelo Tshangana, and the Deputy Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, Mr Bicks Ndoni.
The HDA, presenting on behalf of government, outlined the procurement and legislative processes, compliance issues and BEE requirements, and briefly introduced HDA managed projects.
The objectives of the workshop were to:
In his closing remarks, Mr Tshangana stressed the importance of creating processes and systems that assist SMMEs, the programme structure and agreement in ensuring that SMMEs are assisted, and ways of boosting the performance of contractors in the delivery of sustainable human settlements.
Around 250 delegates attended the workshop. Attendees comprised the following: the Nelson Mandela Housing Forum; South African National Military Veterans Association (SANMVA); the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA); the Black SMME Chamber of Business; the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (NAFCOC); industry and sector departments; the Deputy Executive Mayor and Municipal Manager of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality; the Acting DG of Human Settlements and the Human Settlements team; CEOs of Human Settlements entities and teams; Portfolio Committee members; National Rapid Response Task team members; the members of the provincial legislature on human settlements; and metro councillors.
