Conradie Park welcomes first residents
The R3 billion mixed-income housing development taking shape in Pinelands has welcomed its first residents.
The Conradie Park project is a joint venture between the City, the Province and Own Haven Housing Association, a non-profit company that works with Concor Developments.
The project comprises 3600 flats and includes social-housing opportunities, mixed-income housing units and units funded through the financed-linked individual subsidy programme (FLISP).
The development will include a school, a shopping centre and shops on the ground floors of several of the blocks (“Pinelands housing project making steady progress,” Southern Suburbs Tatler, October 21).
According to Human Settlements MEC Tertius Simmers, the first phase of the social-housing part of the project started in August 2020 and, when completed, will comprise 432 one- and two-bedroom flats in four blocks, each four storeys high.
Last Friday, Province handed over the first 66 of these flats. The rest are expected to be occupied by April.
“The more we can create affordable housing opportunities close to economic opportunities, the more we can address the significant housing needs that exist in the province,” Mr Simmers said.
There was a great need for housing in the Western Cape with 588 000 people on the province’s housing database, of which only 61% were qualifying beneficiaries, he said.
Monthly rentals at Conradie Park would range from R800 to R5000, he said.
Mayoral committee member for human settlements Malusi Booi called the development an “inclusive space where the City, government, private sector and beneficiaries work together to create well-located, mixed income and mixed-use developments that break the spatial inequalities created by the apartheid government”.
Transport and Public Works MEC Daylin Mitchell said: “Infrastructure projects such as the Conradie development are critical enablers of not only our economy and of our efforts aimed at moving beyond the current economic crisis but also of connecting and enabling our communities to access opportunities with dignity.”
Premier Alan Winde said Conradie Park would provide and safe a dignified home for beneficiaries. “It will play a pivotal role in addressing apartheid spatial planning by providing social-housing close to economic opportunities in our city.”
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, beneficiaries expressed their happiness with their new homes. Candice Moyo-Ziso, 41, formerly of Brooklyn, will be staying at Conradie Park with her husband. “I feel so blessed to stay here,” she said.
Sandra Day, 62, formerly of District Six, Belhar and Goodwood, said: “I am happy to be living here. It is much safer, and I am staying alone here as an independent person.”
Johan van Wyk, 75, formerly of Parow, said he was already getting to know his new neighbours. “I enjoy being here,” he said, but added that it was still a “big adjustment” because he was used to staying with his family.
Mr Booi thanked the City’ partners on the development, saying: “A municipality on its own cannot solve the human-settlements crisis in South Africa. We need greater partnerships and innovation to tackle this.”
