Areas and Places

Lourensia Park’s sod-turning initiates better life for beneficiaries

Lourensia Park Sod Turning
From left to right: Joyce Nomzamo, Cllr Benedicta van Minnen, Luzell Delport and Cllr Gregory Peck.

 

Construction of the City’s R28,5 million Lourensia Park phase 2 housing project in Somerset West is due to start in January 2017. The City turned the first sod today, 1 December 2016.

This phase of the City of Cape Town’s Lourensia Park housing project will comprise the completion of 151 opportunities. In the previous phase 216 units were constructed.

The housing typologies will consist of free-standing and semi-detached single-storey units, semi-detached duplexes, and serviced sites.

The civil works for the project are expected to start in January 2017, with construction of the units anticipated to start in March 2017. If all goes according to plan, the project is earmarked for completion by December 2017.

“This project illustrates what dedication and commitment really means”.

“The first phase of the Lourensia Park housing project started in 1996, but as a result of various setbacks and time delays the development rights lapsed and new project processes had to be entered into. The first phase of this project therefore predates the formation of the metro. When all of these processes were finalized, construction began on the first phase of the houses and was completed in December 2011. The beneficiaries moved into their units in January 2012”.

“The symbolic turning of the sod today is an incredibly special milestone and the housing committee that has been involved in this project deserves the greatest recognition for the role that it has played to ensure that the beneficiaries are not forgotten”.

“So many of our residents were denied home ownership under the apartheid regime. When this project is completed, the beneficiaries will own an asset. This is key to the empowerment of our previously disadvantaged residents and to the transformation of our city in general,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Benedicta van Minnen.