By OBAKENG MAJE
13 March 2025- The Northern Cape MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Bentley Vass on Thursday, met with the Implementing Agents (IAs) and contractors appointed for the 1 Billion Rand Housing Project for the Northern Cape, launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Northern Cape Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, in January 2024.
Vass said the project was launched to address the huge housing backlog in the Northern Cape and will deliver a total of 2500 units as part of the first phase of the project, across 13 local municipalities, in the 5 districts of the province. He further said the meeting was part of ongoing engagements with the contractors to address delays in the building process that may delay the delivery of these houses to the beneficiaries.
“There is a need for contractors to accelerate the pace and to meet their contractual obligations and agreed timelines. We are not going to tolerate undue delays or shoddy workmanship, because our communities deserve good quality houses, sooner than later, from this government.
“We are monitoring your performances closely across the five districts, and we are going to ultimately terminate non-performing contractors because we cannot continue at this slow pace,’’ said Vass.
He added that two Implementing Agents (IAs) and nineteen contractors, were appointed by the department in 2024 to be part of this project. Vass said the IAs are responsible for overseeing the entire project.
“They committed to monitoring the contractors closely and to apply necessary proactive measures to prevent any delays,” he said.
The Guardian 