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March 2015
R28 bn greenfields mega project
B
asil Read together with the
Housing Impact Fund of South
Africa (HIFSA), a fundmanaged
by Old Mutual, will be working with
the national and provincial Gauteng
Department of Human Settlements
and the Midvaal Local Municipality
the Emfuleni Local Municipality and
Sedibeng District Municipality, to
ensure that the development sets a
new benchmark in economic devel-
opment and housing.
Savanna City is South Africa's
largest privately initiated mixed-use
housing development and the key
stakeholders in theHIFSA includes the
Development Bankof SouthernAfrica,
Eskom, the Government Employees
Pension Fund and Old Mutual.
The R28 billion greenfields mega
project will roll out over a ten year
period and the 1 462 ha site will
provide a mix of residential housing
opportunities, whichwill include 2 635
walk-up units, 10 246 Finance Linked
Individual Subsidy Program (FLISP),
fully bonded, as well as 5 517 fully
subsidised units
Affordable housing developer Cos-
mopolitan has been selected to roll
out 10 246 FLISPunits andwill oversee
the construction, marketing and sell-
ing of the units at Savanna City.
The Midvaal project will benefit
from the lessons that were learned
at Cosmo City, the multi-billion pilot
project north of Johannesburg, which
Basil Read rolled out on behalf of
national, provincial and local govern-
ment. Cosmo City is often cited as
Savanna City situated south of Johannesburg’s CBD in the Midvaal
Local Municipality will provide over 18 399 affordable housing, retail
and commercial opportunities, schools, parks, recreational facilities,
and a 400 ha environmental area
.
the ‘blueprint’ for integrated mixed
residential settlements, and now
Savanna City will lift the benchmark
even further.
Savanna City will provide 54 900
employment opportunities during
the construction period and 12 700
permanent jobs on completion. The
development includes 400haof public
open space, 16 schools, 32 institution-
al sites, healthcare facilities, churches,
recreational and social sites and nine
commercial and retail opportunities.
Services and facilities are easily ac-
cessible and within walking distance.
A north/south spine road links all the
economic and social facilities on the
same route. Transport nodes include
direct access links to the Stredford
Train Station and Orange Farm.
The Eyethu Mall, a 30 000m² retail
shopping centre is 3km fromSavanna
City and this will also boost the local
economy and provide work oppor-
tunities.
Cosmopolitan hosted all themajor
financial institutions, development
finance institutionsandkey stakehold-
ers at the show village in November
2014. It is clear that the public and
Midvaal community are extremely
excited about Savanna City and the
initial 164 FLISP units were sold prior
to the launch.
Construction will begin on the fully
bonded units by mid-year and oc-
cupation will take place fromAugust.
Cosmopolitan aim to have the first
500 units sold before December 2015.
The Director-General of Human
Settlements, Thabane Zulu officially
launched the National Human Settle-
ments Youth Brigade Program at
Savanna City last December. The
Youth Brigade Program will train
youth teams in construction and the
engineering sector. This pilot project
includes theoretical trainingwithBasil
Read and practical training on site
with the youth teams joining Cosmo-
politan and Basil Read’s construction
teams for experience.
SavannaCity’s first corporate social
initiative was a park, designed and
built by members of the local com-
munity and handed over to Mayor
Bongani Baloyi from the Midvaal Lo-
cal Municipality. The park has been
named Bapala. Children from the
Lakeside Primary School inspired the
design for the park and the artwork
and imagery of a dream park is in line
with Savanna City’s vision.
Savanna City has been identified
as a government prioritymegaproject
and will play a critical contribution in
achieving its housing targets over the
next five years.
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Housing