City Will Provide Basic Services To Slum Dwellers

24 May 2007 - 11:00am

The mayor of Cape Town, South Africa, has announced a plan to provide water, lighting, and sanitation to all of the city's densely-packed slum dwellers.

"The plan, which would see every household given access to water, sanitation and area lighting, would cost 63.4-million Rand (about $9 million)."

"The city has priority ranked every settlement in terms of factors including length of settlement, flooding and fire risk and the availability of water and sanitation."

"The list shows that 47,166 of the 135,693 households need to the relocated, some of them because shacks are so closely packed that there is no way to provide services."

"The plan calls for it to be 'de-densified' by 3,064 of its current 5,460 dwellings, but Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille said this would be accomplished by consultation, in a process "completely different" from forced removals."

"She said a later phase of the plan would involve fully formalising the settlements by providing security of tenure and assisting with the completion of homes."

Source: Mail & Guardian, May 23, 2007
Bookmark and Share
One of the keys to regional and local prosperity is the ability to attract and retain high-skilled people. ... Many people can, and do, choose where they want to live based on factors beyond their ability to make a living.