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Gauteng dithers as thousands suffer

Simon Nare

Simon Nare

For more than three years the Gauteng Department of Housing has been sitting on about R1billion budgeted for the development of Bekkersdal.

The DA claims the Bekkersdal renewal project is in a shambles.

According to the DA, the department of housing's 2005-06 yearly report said that high-mast lighting, waste management systems, a taxi rank and an information hub had been completed for the Bekkersdal project.

But DA housing spokesman Kate Lorimer said none of this was true.

She said the high-mast lighting at a transit camp did not work and there was no waste management system in Bekkersdal.

Lorimer said that though pavements had been laid, there was no storm-water reticulation.

A couple of parks have been upgraded, but playground equipment was missing or in disrepair. An area previously used for parking has been turned into a site for concrete benches.

The two clinics are incomplete because of alleged disputes between the contractors and the Department of Housing.

"Given that it has been three years [since the project was begun] I expected to see some progress - but I am sorry to say its a disaster," Lorimer said.

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