Otjiwarongo accelerates land delivery
With land grabbing having increased rapidly in the last five years, the Otjiwarongo municipality has come up with a plan to speed up the land delivery process.
ESTER KAMATI
OTJIWARONGO
Given increasing concerns over the backlog of land delivery for especially middle to low income earners at Otjiwarongo, the local council's accelerated land delivery process plan was launched yesterday.
Mayor Bennes Haimbodi admitted there is a mismatch between the supply of developable land and the demand, which is exacerbated by the long process of land delivery. The council is planning 16 townships and obtaining township establishment certificates to deliver around 4 000 mixed-use erven.
“The formal process has been delayed by internal processes and continues to lead to a slow response to the increasing population growth rate in the town,” he said.
The accelerated land delivery process will see some processes “that have low risk on statutory provisions as well as spatial planning standards, being conducted in parallel while ensuring that quality and accuracy is not compromised”. Therefore, the new approach entails an overlap of various processes, which will now take place simultaneously in a bid to reduce the time taken to complete the procedures.
New extensions
Naude Slabbert, the municipality's technical services strategic executive, said that 12 445 erven have been in the planning stage since 2015 and are now slated for servicing. Furthermore, five extensions have been registered and identified as ready for servicing, which represents about 1 500 erven ready for delivery in both the town and surrounds
In the next few months, around 700 plots are expected to be allocated to residents. By the middle of 2021, an additional 14 extensions comprising about 4 000 erven are also expected to come into the market to satisfy demand.
Additionally, a flexible land tenure system is progressing in informal settlements such as DRC, Ombili and Tsaraxa-aibes. This project will be aided by the ministries of agriculture, water, forestry and lands and resettlement.
The mayor warned residents against illegal land grabbing, reminding them that it is a punishable crime.
[email protected]
OTJIWARONGO
Given increasing concerns over the backlog of land delivery for especially middle to low income earners at Otjiwarongo, the local council's accelerated land delivery process plan was launched yesterday.
Mayor Bennes Haimbodi admitted there is a mismatch between the supply of developable land and the demand, which is exacerbated by the long process of land delivery. The council is planning 16 townships and obtaining township establishment certificates to deliver around 4 000 mixed-use erven.
“The formal process has been delayed by internal processes and continues to lead to a slow response to the increasing population growth rate in the town,” he said.
The accelerated land delivery process will see some processes “that have low risk on statutory provisions as well as spatial planning standards, being conducted in parallel while ensuring that quality and accuracy is not compromised”. Therefore, the new approach entails an overlap of various processes, which will now take place simultaneously in a bid to reduce the time taken to complete the procedures.
New extensions
Naude Slabbert, the municipality's technical services strategic executive, said that 12 445 erven have been in the planning stage since 2015 and are now slated for servicing. Furthermore, five extensions have been registered and identified as ready for servicing, which represents about 1 500 erven ready for delivery in both the town and surrounds
In the next few months, around 700 plots are expected to be allocated to residents. By the middle of 2021, an additional 14 extensions comprising about 4 000 erven are also expected to come into the market to satisfy demand.
Additionally, a flexible land tenure system is progressing in informal settlements such as DRC, Ombili and Tsaraxa-aibes. This project will be aided by the ministries of agriculture, water, forestry and lands and resettlement.
The mayor warned residents against illegal land grabbing, reminding them that it is a punishable crime.
[email protected]
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