Public Works ‘pleased’ with work done to address housing shortage
The Department of Public Works says it's pleased with the efforts made so far to address the housing shortage.
The department's spokesperson Zara Nicholson says at least 44 land parcels have been released for developments across the country.
This includes land for human settlement projects, land reform and land redistribution.
"Over and above the release of the 44 land parcels, DPWI has also released an additional 17 land parcels measuring 533 hectares for human settlement purposes," says Nicholson.
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Fifteen hectares of land have been approved for socio-economic purposes that apply to roads, water, electricity, and gas pipelines.
Two hundred and fourteen parcels have been released for land restitution to communities who lost their property as a result of apartheid laws.
Nicholson says their target is to release over 162 000 hectares of land in the new financial year.
"The need for land in our country is great and greater urgency needs to be put in by all spheres of government for this work of releasing land to achieve land reform and ensure that more public land is used for public good."