Best Man 2009 winner: moladi CEO Hennie Botes
CATEGORY SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WINNER HENNIE BOTES South Africa’s low-cost housing dilemma is in the news nearly every day. Hennie Botes looked at the basic problem, applied some complex technology and thinking and came up with a simple solution: he invented patented box moulds that allow the rapid erection of low-cost, less labour-intensive, quality housing. Now his company, Moladi, is putting roofs over people’s heads in South Africa, Iraq, India and the Sudan.On the entrepreneurial philosophyIf you can solve a problem and sell the solution, you’re going to be successful. It’s a theme from the book Think and Grow Rich (by Napoleon Hill) and I really subscribe to that. Sadly, it seems that in South Africa today we don’t do enough to nurture entrepreneurship. The basic schooling curriculum is not encouraging self-development or generating enough self-employed people. The result is a generation thinking that life owes them something.On overcoming obstaclesWhen Bell invented the phone, it wasn’t very successful. People didn’t see the attributes or understand how it might be used in the future and I had similar problems. I was highly motivated and really believed in my idea, but when I presented it to investors, they’d shoot holes in it. I had to overcome these hurdles. It’s been a 22-year journey, but I always kept the goal in mind. Moses spent 40 years in the desert and Noah took years to build the ark, but they both knew what they were doing and why. I’m quite happy my desert experience was only 20-odd years, though.On putting roofs over people’s headsThere’s an American company that wants to build classrooms in Iraq, and they told me we’re the third M: there was a guy who saw a need for a global burger and McDonalds was the result; there was a guy who saw the need for global computer software and Microsoft was born; and there’s a need for housing and Moladi provides a solution. That really motivates me - the fact that we can address the huge housing need while creating employment. Handing over a house is guaranteed goosebumps stuff, every time.On innovationIt’s not just the way you build the wall of a house, but the way you supply the entire product. Our building process has been approved and accepted, so it’s time to look ahead. We’re working on producing windows, doors, toilet seats, window frames, sinks and washbasins. If I can include these as part of my product, I’ll reduce the total unit cost of the house. The more I reduce the overall price, the more houses Moladi will produce. I’d rather build a house a day and sell it for R1 000, than build one house a year and sell it for a million.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Best Man 2009 winner: Hennie Botes
Best Man 2009 winner: CEO moladi Hennie Botes
CATEGORY SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WINNER HENNIE BOTES South Africa’s low-cost housing dilemma is in the news nearly every day. Hennie Botes looked at the basic problem, applied some complex technology and thinking and came up with a simple solution: he invented patented box moulds that allow the rapid erection of low-cost, less labour-intensive, quality housing. Now his company, Moladi, is putting roofs over people’s heads in South Africa, Iraq, India and the Sudan.On the entrepreneurial philosophyIf you can solve a problem and sell the solution, you’re going to be successful. It’s a theme from the book Think and Grow Rich (by Napoleon Hill) and I really subscribe to that. Sadly, it seems that in South Africa today we don’t do enough to nurture entrepreneurship. The basic schooling curriculum is not encouraging self-development or generating enough self-employed people. The result is a generation thinking that life owes them something.On overcoming obstaclesWhen Bell invented the phone, it wasn’t very successful. People didn’t see the attributes or understand how it might be used in the future and I had similar problems. I was highly motivated and really believed in my idea, but when I presented it to investors, they’d shoot holes in it. I had to overcome these hurdles. It’s been a 22-year journey, but I always kept the goal in mind. Moses spent 40 years in the desert and Noah took years to build the ark, but they both knew what they were doing and why. I’m quite happy my desert experience was only 20-odd years, though.On putting roofs over people’s headsThere’s an American company that wants to build classrooms in Iraq, and they told me we’re the third M: there was a guy who saw a need for a global burger and McDonalds was the result; there was a guy who saw the need for global computer software and Microsoft was born; and there’s a need for housing and Moladi provides a solution. That really motivates me - the fact that we can address the huge housing need while creating employment. Handing over a house is guaranteed goosebumps stuff, every time.On innovationIt’s not just the way you build the wall of a house, but the way you supply the entire product. Our building process has been approved and accepted, so it’s time to look ahead. We’re working on producing windows, doors, toilet seats, window frames, sinks and washbasins. If I can include these as part of my product, I’ll reduce the total unit cost of the house. The more I reduce the overall price, the more houses Moladi will produce. I’d rather build a house a day and sell it for R1 000, than build one house a year and sell it for a million.
CATEGORY SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WINNER HENNIE BOTES South Africa’s low-cost housing dilemma is in the news nearly every day. Hennie Botes looked at the basic problem, applied some complex technology and thinking and came up with a simple solution: he invented patented box moulds that allow the rapid erection of low-cost, less labour-intensive, quality housing. Now his company, Moladi, is putting roofs over people’s heads in South Africa, Iraq, India and the Sudan.On the entrepreneurial philosophyIf you can solve a problem and sell the solution, you’re going to be successful. It’s a theme from the book Think and Grow Rich (by Napoleon Hill) and I really subscribe to that. Sadly, it seems that in South Africa today we don’t do enough to nurture entrepreneurship. The basic schooling curriculum is not encouraging self-development or generating enough self-employed people. The result is a generation thinking that life owes them something.On overcoming obstaclesWhen Bell invented the phone, it wasn’t very successful. People didn’t see the attributes or understand how it might be used in the future and I had similar problems. I was highly motivated and really believed in my idea, but when I presented it to investors, they’d shoot holes in it. I had to overcome these hurdles. It’s been a 22-year journey, but I always kept the goal in mind. Moses spent 40 years in the desert and Noah took years to build the ark, but they both knew what they were doing and why. I’m quite happy my desert experience was only 20-odd years, though.On putting roofs over people’s headsThere’s an American company that wants to build classrooms in Iraq, and they told me we’re the third M: there was a guy who saw a need for a global burger and McDonalds was the result; there was a guy who saw the need for global computer software and Microsoft was born; and there’s a need for housing and Moladi provides a solution. That really motivates me - the fact that we can address the huge housing need while creating employment. Handing over a house is guaranteed goosebumps stuff, every time.On innovationIt’s not just the way you build the wall of a house, but the way you supply the entire product. Our building process has been approved and accepted, so it’s time to look ahead. We’re working on producing windows, doors, toilet seats, window frames, sinks and washbasins. If I can include these as part of my product, I’ll reduce the total unit cost of the house. The more I reduce the overall price, the more houses Moladi will produce. I’d rather build a house a day and sell it for R1 000, than build one house a year and sell it for a million.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Give me shelter: the global housing crisis
Give me shelter: the global housing crisis
The problem of inadequate or nonexistent housing has reached crisis proportions globally. The world population passed 6.1 billion in 2001 and is expected to reach 7.9-10.9 billion by 2050, according to the United Nations (UN) Population Fund. This sheer volume alone exerts enormous pressure to improve existing housing and create new homes. As the global population grows, rural areas around the world are emptying and megacities springing up, usually as unregulated districts circling an older, more organized core. According to the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Population Action International, as of 1996 (the latest figures available), approximately 52% of the total housing in Caracas, Venezuela, consisted of squatter settlements; in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the figure was 49%, and in Karachi, Pakistan, 40%.
Housing affects health in many different ways. Deficient housing can compromise the most basic needs of water, sanitation, and safe food preparation and storage, allowing the rapid spread of communicable and foodborne diseases. Other problems, such as poor temperature and humidity regulation, can lead to respiratory disease. Overcrowding brings both physical and psychological dangers. And living in nonresidential settings such as factory grounds often exposes people to toxic chemicals that can cause both acute and chronic health effects.
A Multifactorial Epidemic
The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) estimates that 600 million urban residents and 1 billion rural dwellers in developing countries live in overcrowded housing with poor water quality, lack of sanitation, and no garbage collection. People live in old buses, shipping containers, cardboard boxes, and aluminum shacks, and under staircases and plastic sheeting, among other forms of inadequate housing. In both the developed and developing worlds, industrial sites have become attractive settlements for displaced populations, partly because settlers can sometimes appropriate building materials and tap into water and electricity systems.
Inadequate housing can be considered a multifactorial epidemic--rapid urbanization, economic restructuring, natural disasters, and political events such as regime changes and wars all have contributed to the crisis. In China, where the economy is modernizing rapidly, increasing urbanization in the next few decades will create a need for more than 200 million new housing units, almost twice the total number of existing housing units in the United States, says John Spengler, a professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health. According to A Report on Worst Case Housing Needs in 1999: New Opportunity Amid Continuing Challenges, published in January 2001 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), more than 5 million American families live in housing that is substandard, yet barely affordable.
A 2000 report by the Special Rapporteur to the UN Commission on Human Rights, The Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, noted that regional housing crises are increasingly being triggered by forced evictions stemming from ethnic cleansing and civil wars. For example, as many as 1.5 million people may have been displaced in southeast Turkey during a civil conflict from 1984 to 1999 between the government and the Kurdish Workers' Party, according to Displaced and Disregarded: Turkey's Failing Village Return Program, an October 2002 report published by the nonprofit Human Rights Watch. This report also says many villagers are still waiting in cities for the chance to reclaim their lands. In the city of Van, one refugee reported his family living in stables, 13 to a room, with 100 people sharing one water tap and one toilet.
Consequences of the Crisis
Not surprisingly, such conditions of overcrowding have fostered physical health problems such as typhoid fever and bronchitis, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, according to the Human Rights Watch report. In developing countries, overcrowding and poor ventilation can encourage the growth of disease vectors such as mosquitoes, parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Noise and sheer physical safety, including vulnerability to violent crime, contribute to anxiety and depression in both developed and developing countries. Some of the worst environmental health problems associated with housing, especially in developing countries, are unsafe water supplies, lead exposure, and poor indoor air quality (along with related dust and moisture problems).
Unsafe water. The developing world suffers 98% of the deaths resulting from unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) World Health Report 2002. The report identifies infectious diarrhea as the largest single contributor to ill health associated with water, sanitation, and hygiene inadequacies. In some countries schistosomiasis, trachoma, and other parasitic diseases arise from contaminated water systems. Schistosomiasis is caused by a blood fluke and causes fever, diarrhea, and enlargement of the liver and spleen. Trachoma is caused by a Chlamydia parasite and causes inflamed eyelids, corneal abrasion, and eventually blindness. According to the WHO, 6 million people worldwide are blind due to trachoma, and more than 150 million are threatened with blindness because of trachoma infection.
The problem of inadequate or nonexistent housing has reached crisis proportions globally. The world population passed 6.1 billion in 2001 and is expected to reach 7.9-10.9 billion by 2050, according to the United Nations (UN) Population Fund. This sheer volume alone exerts enormous pressure to improve existing housing and create new homes. As the global population grows, rural areas around the world are emptying and megacities springing up, usually as unregulated districts circling an older, more organized core. According to the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Population Action International, as of 1996 (the latest figures available), approximately 52% of the total housing in Caracas, Venezuela, consisted of squatter settlements; in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the figure was 49%, and in Karachi, Pakistan, 40%.
Housing affects health in many different ways. Deficient housing can compromise the most basic needs of water, sanitation, and safe food preparation and storage, allowing the rapid spread of communicable and foodborne diseases. Other problems, such as poor temperature and humidity regulation, can lead to respiratory disease. Overcrowding brings both physical and psychological dangers. And living in nonresidential settings such as factory grounds often exposes people to toxic chemicals that can cause both acute and chronic health effects.
A Multifactorial Epidemic
The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) estimates that 600 million urban residents and 1 billion rural dwellers in developing countries live in overcrowded housing with poor water quality, lack of sanitation, and no garbage collection. People live in old buses, shipping containers, cardboard boxes, and aluminum shacks, and under staircases and plastic sheeting, among other forms of inadequate housing. In both the developed and developing worlds, industrial sites have become attractive settlements for displaced populations, partly because settlers can sometimes appropriate building materials and tap into water and electricity systems.
Inadequate housing can be considered a multifactorial epidemic--rapid urbanization, economic restructuring, natural disasters, and political events such as regime changes and wars all have contributed to the crisis. In China, where the economy is modernizing rapidly, increasing urbanization in the next few decades will create a need for more than 200 million new housing units, almost twice the total number of existing housing units in the United States, says John Spengler, a professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health. According to A Report on Worst Case Housing Needs in 1999: New Opportunity Amid Continuing Challenges, published in January 2001 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), more than 5 million American families live in housing that is substandard, yet barely affordable.
A 2000 report by the Special Rapporteur to the UN Commission on Human Rights, The Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, noted that regional housing crises are increasingly being triggered by forced evictions stemming from ethnic cleansing and civil wars. For example, as many as 1.5 million people may have been displaced in southeast Turkey during a civil conflict from 1984 to 1999 between the government and the Kurdish Workers' Party, according to Displaced and Disregarded: Turkey's Failing Village Return Program, an October 2002 report published by the nonprofit Human Rights Watch. This report also says many villagers are still waiting in cities for the chance to reclaim their lands. In the city of Van, one refugee reported his family living in stables, 13 to a room, with 100 people sharing one water tap and one toilet.
Consequences of the Crisis
Not surprisingly, such conditions of overcrowding have fostered physical health problems such as typhoid fever and bronchitis, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, according to the Human Rights Watch report. In developing countries, overcrowding and poor ventilation can encourage the growth of disease vectors such as mosquitoes, parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Noise and sheer physical safety, including vulnerability to violent crime, contribute to anxiety and depression in both developed and developing countries. Some of the worst environmental health problems associated with housing, especially in developing countries, are unsafe water supplies, lead exposure, and poor indoor air quality (along with related dust and moisture problems).
Unsafe water. The developing world suffers 98% of the deaths resulting from unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) World Health Report 2002. The report identifies infectious diarrhea as the largest single contributor to ill health associated with water, sanitation, and hygiene inadequacies. In some countries schistosomiasis, trachoma, and other parasitic diseases arise from contaminated water systems. Schistosomiasis is caused by a blood fluke and causes fever, diarrhea, and enlargement of the liver and spleen. Trachoma is caused by a Chlamydia parasite and causes inflamed eyelids, corneal abrasion, and eventually blindness. According to the WHO, 6 million people worldwide are blind due to trachoma, and more than 150 million are threatened with blindness because of trachoma infection.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Low cost houses For The People
Houses For The People
Shelter is a basic necessity of life. Indeed, apart from food and water, shelter is ranked as the next in the list of needs of man that qualifies to be classified as a human right.Thus the right to shelter, which is universally recognised as a basic social right and enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), is accorded pride of place in many jurisdictions, especially in progressive societies where the principles of quality and the well-being of the masses hold sway.It is no wonder, therefore, that in such progressive societies, homelessness, which is a denial of this important right, is a rare phenomenon, whereas in more affluent, laissez-faire nations, there are more homeless and destitute people.In developing nations such as ours, the issue of rapid and unplanned urbanisation, coupled with underdevelopment and poverty, has brought to the fore the acute housing problem the people have to contend with.In the urban centres where this problem is prevalent and acute, this problem is sometimes masked in the form of squatter settlements or shanty towns at the centre or prime areas of cities.Many working class people and others who have thronged the cities to make a living, because of the absence of alternative means of livelihood in the rural and semi-urban areas, simply cannot afford the prohibitive rents that are charged for the regular and modest houses available for accommodation.It is common in our urban centres for landlords to demand rent advances ranging between two and 10 years at exorbitant rates and completely out of reach of the majority of the people.This, in part, arises from the fact that the demand for houses or homes far outstrips supply and, therefore, there is a big deficit.Over the years, this gap has grown in width and depth into a gulf and with it the housing crisis in many urban centres of the country has aggravated.Governments, over the years, have, through a number of interventions, put up some housing units, mostly dubbed affordable housing, for workers in urban centres.Even though these facilities have provided substantial relief for many workers and their families, many more are still left out in the open. The few private sector housing initiatives for workers have also not gone far to adequately address the problem.It is, therefore, gratifying to note that the government, recognising the housing issue as a human right, has already launched an initiative, in partnership with the private sector, to construct 100,000 housing units across the country over the next eight years.Additionally, 200,000 low-income housing units are to be constructed.We are happy to note that these, in addition to the pledge by the government to complete the various affordable housing projects left hanging from the previous government, will help make a significant dent on the huge housing deficit and bring relief to more working people and their families.We urge the government to ensure that working and low-income people for whom those houses are meant are the ones who get them.We recall with sadness and regret the situation where ministers, party functionaries, wealthy businessmen and women and their cronies were those who rather scrambled for and got these affordable and low-cost housing units, some even before the buildings were completed, leaving out those for whom they were meant.We wish to urge the government and the private sector to join hands to work urgently on bringing down or at least check the escalating prices of building materials such as cement, iron rods, wood and others, as these are responsible for the high cost of houses.
Shelter is a basic necessity of life. Indeed, apart from food and water, shelter is ranked as the next in the list of needs of man that qualifies to be classified as a human right.Thus the right to shelter, which is universally recognised as a basic social right and enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), is accorded pride of place in many jurisdictions, especially in progressive societies where the principles of quality and the well-being of the masses hold sway.It is no wonder, therefore, that in such progressive societies, homelessness, which is a denial of this important right, is a rare phenomenon, whereas in more affluent, laissez-faire nations, there are more homeless and destitute people.In developing nations such as ours, the issue of rapid and unplanned urbanisation, coupled with underdevelopment and poverty, has brought to the fore the acute housing problem the people have to contend with.In the urban centres where this problem is prevalent and acute, this problem is sometimes masked in the form of squatter settlements or shanty towns at the centre or prime areas of cities.Many working class people and others who have thronged the cities to make a living, because of the absence of alternative means of livelihood in the rural and semi-urban areas, simply cannot afford the prohibitive rents that are charged for the regular and modest houses available for accommodation.It is common in our urban centres for landlords to demand rent advances ranging between two and 10 years at exorbitant rates and completely out of reach of the majority of the people.This, in part, arises from the fact that the demand for houses or homes far outstrips supply and, therefore, there is a big deficit.Over the years, this gap has grown in width and depth into a gulf and with it the housing crisis in many urban centres of the country has aggravated.Governments, over the years, have, through a number of interventions, put up some housing units, mostly dubbed affordable housing, for workers in urban centres.Even though these facilities have provided substantial relief for many workers and their families, many more are still left out in the open. The few private sector housing initiatives for workers have also not gone far to adequately address the problem.It is, therefore, gratifying to note that the government, recognising the housing issue as a human right, has already launched an initiative, in partnership with the private sector, to construct 100,000 housing units across the country over the next eight years.Additionally, 200,000 low-income housing units are to be constructed.We are happy to note that these, in addition to the pledge by the government to complete the various affordable housing projects left hanging from the previous government, will help make a significant dent on the huge housing deficit and bring relief to more working people and their families.We urge the government to ensure that working and low-income people for whom those houses are meant are the ones who get them.We recall with sadness and regret the situation where ministers, party functionaries, wealthy businessmen and women and their cronies were those who rather scrambled for and got these affordable and low-cost housing units, some even before the buildings were completed, leaving out those for whom they were meant.We wish to urge the government and the private sector to join hands to work urgently on bringing down or at least check the escalating prices of building materials such as cement, iron rods, wood and others, as these are responsible for the high cost of houses.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Affordable housing South Africa gets boost from French finance institution
Affordable housing South Africa gets boost from French finance institution: "NHFC"
Affordable housing received a boost when Agence Française de Développement (AfD) entered into a loan agreement with the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) on Thursday.The loan agreement is worth 20 million euros (R225 million), the NGFC and AfD said in a joint statement."The funding is intended for social and private rental projects supported by the NHFC," they said.Speaking at the signing ceremony, NHFC chief executive officer Samson Moraba said his organisation would continue to look to partnerships with the private and public sectors to deliver on its mandate."The demand for housing, in the affordable target market supported by the NHFC, continues to be far greater than the supply thereof and the Corporation continues to seek out opportunities to enhance delivery," he said.The project aimed to partly or fully finance activities that had been pre-identified by the AfD."The projects meet the NHFC criteria for social mix; close proximity to areas of employment and transport; and high urban density," the NGFC said AfD said.AfD chief executive officer Jean-Michel Severino said that until recently, downtown Johannesburg had experienced a period of disinvestment and deterioration."We believe the implementation of renovation policies and projects, such as the social housing initiative by NHFC, will attract residents, tourists, businesses and investors to revitalise this urban area," Severino said.The AfD credit line to NHFC would support the rehabilitation of central Johannesburg by, for example, funding corporate programmes such as the Affordable Housing Company (Afhco).
Afhco has been funded by the NHFC for its provision of low-cost housing and urban renewal in Johannesburg.The NHFC said it continued to be a funder of social housing institutions and in the current year had provided funding to projects in all provinces where such projects were being built."AfD as an institution is not new to us as we have enjoyed a healthy and vibrant relationship with them," Moraba said."Together, we have in the past together organised a very successful seminar that attracted influential stakeholders in low-income housing, both national and international."According to Severino, addressing the urgent need for affordable housing in South Africa was one of the imperatives of the AfD."Our funding to public and non-banking bodies such as the NHFC aims to fulfil this," he said.The NHFC was established by the government in 1996 as a development finance institution with the principal mandate of broadening and deepening access to affordable housing finance for the low- to middle-income households.It provides funding support for the residential property market, particularly when finance is not readily available.The funding commitment announced by AfD during its four-day visit to South Africa amounted to R3.5 billion."This was towards socio-economic initiatives by the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, Global Rating, Central Energy Fund, Transnet and the Development Bank of Southern Africa," it said in the statement.The AfD also met Capitec Bank and the Airports Company of South Africa. - Sapa
Affordable housing received a boost when Agence Française de Développement (AfD) entered into a loan agreement with the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) on Thursday.The loan agreement is worth 20 million euros (R225 million), the NGFC and AfD said in a joint statement."The funding is intended for social and private rental projects supported by the NHFC," they said.Speaking at the signing ceremony, NHFC chief executive officer Samson Moraba said his organisation would continue to look to partnerships with the private and public sectors to deliver on its mandate."The demand for housing, in the affordable target market supported by the NHFC, continues to be far greater than the supply thereof and the Corporation continues to seek out opportunities to enhance delivery," he said.The project aimed to partly or fully finance activities that had been pre-identified by the AfD."The projects meet the NHFC criteria for social mix; close proximity to areas of employment and transport; and high urban density," the NGFC said AfD said.AfD chief executive officer Jean-Michel Severino said that until recently, downtown Johannesburg had experienced a period of disinvestment and deterioration."We believe the implementation of renovation policies and projects, such as the social housing initiative by NHFC, will attract residents, tourists, businesses and investors to revitalise this urban area," Severino said.The AfD credit line to NHFC would support the rehabilitation of central Johannesburg by, for example, funding corporate programmes such as the Affordable Housing Company (Afhco).
Afhco has been funded by the NHFC for its provision of low-cost housing and urban renewal in Johannesburg.The NHFC said it continued to be a funder of social housing institutions and in the current year had provided funding to projects in all provinces where such projects were being built."AfD as an institution is not new to us as we have enjoyed a healthy and vibrant relationship with them," Moraba said."Together, we have in the past together organised a very successful seminar that attracted influential stakeholders in low-income housing, both national and international."According to Severino, addressing the urgent need for affordable housing in South Africa was one of the imperatives of the AfD."Our funding to public and non-banking bodies such as the NHFC aims to fulfil this," he said.The NHFC was established by the government in 1996 as a development finance institution with the principal mandate of broadening and deepening access to affordable housing finance for the low- to middle-income households.It provides funding support for the residential property market, particularly when finance is not readily available.The funding commitment announced by AfD during its four-day visit to South Africa amounted to R3.5 billion."This was towards socio-economic initiatives by the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, Global Rating, Central Energy Fund, Transnet and the Development Bank of Southern Africa," it said in the statement.The AfD also met Capitec Bank and the Airports Company of South Africa. - Sapa
moladi wins housing competition in Ghana
120 square meter – 3 bedrooms – 2 bathrooms – lounge – dining room – kitchen
Thank you moladiGHANA, you make us PROUD!
Another country, another moladi launch, another successful transfer of South African technology, this time in Accra, Ghana
A competition was called for by Data Bank in Accra, Ghana to allow competing building technologies to showcase their ability and product on the basis of – Speed, Quality, Cost, Social Acceptability and Creating Employment for the Unskilled. The winner will qualify to construct 100 units for the Ghanaian market funded by Data Bank.
The building technologies qualified to participate was Hydraform, Panel Form and moladi
We are very PROUD to announce - moladi was judged the WINNER! Now we are able implement our moladiVILLAGE approach to assist the rural communities.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Low cost housing - RDP homes demolished
Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements welcomes demolishing of RDP houses
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements has recommended that all government subsidy-houses should comply with the Human Settlements Breaking New Ground’s (BNG) principles and policy which states that all houses built must have access to water, adequate sanitation and electricity as these form the basic rights of all citizens.
BNG also states that Human Settlements must be closer to all social and economic amenities. This is one of the recommendations found in the Committee’s report on its oversight visit to housing projects in the Eastern Cape.
During the oversight visit, the committee observed that there was totally not compliance with the BNG policy in some areas and people were living under life-threatening conditions.
“When the committee assessed the quality of these houses, it was found that the walls were full of defects of which some would be beyond repairs. People living in those houses reported that they feared that the houses might fall at any time,” said the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Ms Nomhle Dambuza.
The Committee also fully support the decision taken by the Minister to demolish some of the houses. This decision must be understood in a context that previous Parliaments took a decision that as a result of poor quality, an audit should be conducted in all houses built post 1994 to 2004.
Thereafter houses found with structural defects be rectified and those with defects beyond repairs should be demolished and reconstructed to safeguard the lives of the people. In addition to the oversight visit, the committee has also learnt that the architecture of some houses does not take into account the privacy and the dignity of the people.
House design should take into account the current needs and restoration of people’s dignity and integrity, and if this is done at the planning stage, efficiencies should be increased and costs reduced, the Committee has recommended. Although the rectification programme is up and running, it has been noticed that the houses claimed to have been fixed require further work.
Despite these challenges mentioned above, says the committee, there were genuine problems facing the Province such as lack of suitable located land for human settlement development; lack of intergovernmental co-ordination and lack of capacity in emerging contractors. Spiralling costs of building material were also found to have a negative impact on the projects.
Another challenge identified in some municipalities, such as the Cacadu District Municipality, was that the area is too dry and water is so scarce thus impacting negatively on the service delivery. The current departmental budget does not cater for the provision of bulk water infrastructure. The committee believes that the next medium term expenditure budget will be able to accommodate such provisions.
The committee appreciates the commitment and enthusiasm shown by the provincial Human Settlements MEC in trying to fix these problems.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements has recommended that all government subsidy-houses should comply with the Human Settlements Breaking New Ground’s (BNG) principles and policy which states that all houses built must have access to water, adequate sanitation and electricity as these form the basic rights of all citizens.
BNG also states that Human Settlements must be closer to all social and economic amenities. This is one of the recommendations found in the Committee’s report on its oversight visit to housing projects in the Eastern Cape.
During the oversight visit, the committee observed that there was totally not compliance with the BNG policy in some areas and people were living under life-threatening conditions.
“When the committee assessed the quality of these houses, it was found that the walls were full of defects of which some would be beyond repairs. People living in those houses reported that they feared that the houses might fall at any time,” said the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Ms Nomhle Dambuza.
The Committee also fully support the decision taken by the Minister to demolish some of the houses. This decision must be understood in a context that previous Parliaments took a decision that as a result of poor quality, an audit should be conducted in all houses built post 1994 to 2004.
Thereafter houses found with structural defects be rectified and those with defects beyond repairs should be demolished and reconstructed to safeguard the lives of the people. In addition to the oversight visit, the committee has also learnt that the architecture of some houses does not take into account the privacy and the dignity of the people.
House design should take into account the current needs and restoration of people’s dignity and integrity, and if this is done at the planning stage, efficiencies should be increased and costs reduced, the Committee has recommended. Although the rectification programme is up and running, it has been noticed that the houses claimed to have been fixed require further work.
Despite these challenges mentioned above, says the committee, there were genuine problems facing the Province such as lack of suitable located land for human settlement development; lack of intergovernmental co-ordination and lack of capacity in emerging contractors. Spiralling costs of building material were also found to have a negative impact on the projects.
Another challenge identified in some municipalities, such as the Cacadu District Municipality, was that the area is too dry and water is so scarce thus impacting negatively on the service delivery. The current departmental budget does not cater for the provision of bulk water infrastructure. The committee believes that the next medium term expenditure budget will be able to accommodate such provisions.
The committee appreciates the commitment and enthusiasm shown by the provincial Human Settlements MEC in trying to fix these problems.
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