SOWETO LAND REGULARIZATION PROCESS MAKES CITY HISTORY
JOHANNESBURG. Joburg Property Company (JPC), managers of the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) property portfolio has started implementation of a revolutionary land regularization process. The process, the first of its kind in City history - audits, verifies and transfers urban land to Previously Disadvantaged Individuals (PDIs), who were formerly unable to own urban land in formerly disadvantaged areas due to Apartheid era legislation.
“The process, which is to be implemented in Soweto, looks at releasing CoJ land which is not required by the Council to fulfil its functions. The advantage of this approach is that it will support sustainable economic growth through private sector investment and increase the rates, taxes and service repayment base of the City,” said Marius Pieters, Project Manager: Land Regularization at JPC.
JPC is already busy implementing the process at the (train) shops in Dobsonville and Bara in Diepkloof Zone 6. This particular process is a first in South African history. Other identified areas where the process will be rolled out include; Diepsloot, Ivory Park, Alexandra and Orange Farm. Proposal calls for the work to be undertaken in Orange Farm, which falls within Region G, have been released by JPC. It is anticipated that the process will start in November 2005 and be completed by June 2006
“The process has two main components. The first process will result in property audit of all Council-owned property, while the second process will see the implementation of a land release strategy. The property audit identifies those properties which are vacant and includes Council-owned shops, occupied land and land which is seen as “farm portions”. The land release strategy seeks to provide a mechanism to enable legitimate beneficiaries to gain legal access to the property by transfer, whilst similarly identifying those properties that can be released to public tender or withheld for public sector investment,” Marius said.
Both components have short and long-term impacts. In the short-term, the programme seeks to verify and quantify the total number of properties under the control of the CoJ. In so doing, it legitimises local government in the eyes of its ratepayers, updates the existing database of Council-owned property and provides strategic property plans for the release of Council-owned property. In the longer term, the Council will have a clear land release strategy that will not only grant ownership but also access to Council-owned land.
The process allows legal tenants transfer, provides economic incentives to invest in strategic parcels of land and identifies specific precincts that stimulate economic and social development. The CoJ will also be in a position to obtain revenue from those parcels of land release on public tender. All of this will be managed through the area-based property plans.
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