President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a multibillion-rand housing project in Pretoria which will allow people earning as little as R8,000 to own apartments.
Mooikloof Mega City, situated in Pretoria East, is the largest of its kind in the country with a total project value of R84bn. In the project, Balwin Properties partnered with the government to allow low-income earners to own sectional titles through the Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (Flisp).
It will have 50,000 units.
The pricing starts at R500,000 for three bedrooms.
The Flisp programme will be implemented across the country to allow people earning between R3,500 and R22,000 a month to be able to get housing loans through a subsidy scheme.
Ramaphosa said the project is the beginning of many developments that the state will implement, using infrastructure projects to reignite the economy.
“Once completed, the Mooikloof Mega City may end up becoming the world’s largest sectional title development with land also earmarked for schools, clinics, shops or offices. It is pleasing to note that the development is in line with green building principles and will also make optimal use of greenbelts and green spaces recreation.
“This housing development addresses the housing 'missing middle' – people who earn too much to qualify for fully subsidised housing but not enough to afford debt-financed housing,” Ramaphosa said.
To provide further momentum to the project, the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission Council designated the Mooikloof Mega City development as a strategic integrated project and gazetted it in July.
This means that the government, through the department of public works, will set aside R1.4bn for all external bulk services installations such as water, sewers, electricity, roads, and stormwater drains, to be implemented by Balwin.
In terms of the transaction, Balwin will acquire two tracts of land with a combined area of 210ha for an aggregate purchase consideration of R332.5m. The land will be combined into a single property post the transactions and will consist of a residential component, two educational facilities and a commercial node.
The development launched on Sunday is expected to create 115,000 direct and indirect jobs over the lifespan of the project and change the property landscape of Pretoria East by bringing low-income earners closer to “some of the richest people in the city”.
Ramaphosa said the biggest strength of the project is that it addresses apartheid spatial design which kept black people away from places of economic opportunities.
“We continue to feel the effects of apartheid spatial design in what they call the 40/40/40 principle. This means that most people are housed 40km from employment opportunities. As a result, they spend 40% of their income on transport. But they also spend 40% of their time travelling to work…This development has all the wonderful key features of spatial integration.”
CEO of Balwin Properties Steve Brookes said: “We will initially develop, construct and deliver 16,000 green model residential apartments over five developments. The first portion will consist of approximately 2,500 apartments.”
Just on Saturday, 200 apartments were sold.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.