Cape Town: The officials from the City of Cape Town attended a sod-turning ceremony to relaunch its well-located Edward Avenue Housing project. This is an important milestone that marks the commitment of the city to deliver housing opportunities and improving the lives of the residents under difficult sectoral conditions.
The Edward Avenue Housing Project is estimated to get complete by December 2025. It comprises of 126 Breaking New Ground (BNG) State-subsidised housing opportunities. It was delayed by some time due to the impact of criminality and extortion.
Moreover, the housing project is expected to be completed by the end of this year, if all goes according to the plan.
Considering this, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Human Settlements – Councillor Carl Pophaim said that he is so pleased to be here, to witness the progress of the R52 million housing project.
According to Pophaim, the project includes not only the houses but also the electrification and public lighting, landscaping and sidewalks. He mentioned that they are doing the important work for the benefit of their beneficiaries, some of them are among the most vulnerable. They want to see them move into their new homes soon so they may begin the next phase of their lives in comfort.
Carl Pophaim further enlightened that the project was unfortunately impacted by criminality and extortion. He said that it is not okay that they cannot allow extortion and criminals demanding to protect the money or cuts of project values to be the norm and they will fight it with all they have.
“We therefore spent much focus on reducing risks and enhance security and monitoring was implemented to deal with the threats. These criminals cannot and will not be allowed to take housing opportunities from those who need them the most,” stated Councillor Pophaim.
The Human Settlements Councillor said that the support of the community is extremely important to protect the project. The City of Cape Town will continue to do everything it can to ensure the beneficiaries and receive their opportunities as planned.
He explained that when they work together with the communities, they can overcome these challenges. Due to this, they must continue to say Enough is Enough and stand together to fight the criminality and extortion, as together they can make a real difference for the residents of Cape Town.