Dept allocates R10 billion to fund upgrading of informal settlements

HUMAN Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has announced that her department has set aside R10 billion to upgrade informal settlements across the country.

There has been a rapid increase in the number of informal settlements in the last few years.

Sisulu told Parliament on Tuesday, during her department’s budget vote, that they want to upgrade informal settlements.

“Over the next three years, about R10 billion has been ring-fenced to accelerate the upgrading of informal settlements countrywide. The rapid growth of informal settlements in all major cities and towns, which I reflected on earlier, have necessitated a review of funding frameworks. The department has created a dedicated Upgrading of Informal Settlements Grant Funding Framework exclusively set up to address adequately the upgrading of this challenge in our country,” said Sisulu.

She said there are more than 2.2 million families who live in informal settlements. Most of the people who move into informal settlements want to be closer to work opportunities in the major cities.