Transport and Public Works
With regard to the President’s commitment to fixing the central line in Cape Town as was announced in his address to the joint sitting in Parliament in October 2020:
- (a)(i) What is the number of families that have built houses on the central line and (ii) for how long have they been living there and (b) what is his Department’s involvement with and contribution to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s project to relocate these families:
- whether any pockets of land have been identified by his Department for the relocation of these families; if so, what are the relevant details?
- [a] [i] There are three informal settlements along PRASA’s Central Line. These are:
- Langa Station including the Intersite temporary relocation area [TRA] and TRA 1,
- Philippi Station including the Philippi Staging Yard, and
- Various sections in the Khayelitsha area.
According to information provided by the PRASA regional office, there are a total number of 7,844 households within PRASA rail servitudes, requiring a land size of 59.6 hectares for resettlement.
[ii] According to PRASA, the families [except for a number of families that have recently settled near Langa Station] have been living in the rail reserve for a number of years.
[b] The Department serves on a Task Team established to address this issue and led by National Government’s Housing Development Agency, with representation from PRASA, the National Department of Transport, the National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements, and the City of Cape Town.
2] The Task Team has identified two parcels of land for the relocation of these families, namely Farm 981 Stellenbosch and Erf 41965 Blue Downs in the ownership of National Government, and in the custodianship of the National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure. According to PRASA, of the total number of informal households, 1350 will have to be relocated to one of he two sites near Stellenbosch to the land which must still be released by the National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure
