On May 19, 2016, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille announced that municipality is working on plans to secure two pieces of land for qualified beneficiaries from Blikkiesdorp and surrounding areas. However GroundUp reported on June 10 that now only one piece of land is available.
Blikkiesdorp was built as a short-term housing solution in 2007 as temporary solutions to relocating residents from Salt River and Woodstock. Roughly 20,000 people live there today. Recent proposals from the Airports Company South Africa’s (Acsa) as part of the the R3.4 billion expansion of Cape Town International Airport (which is adjacent to the informal settlement), has intensified the need for residents to be relocated as residents will be exposed to noise that exceeds guidelines of an environmental impact assessment.
The city undertook to spend a month conducting a survey on the number of people living in the area to determine the beneficiaries. The mayor’s latest relocation proposal in which only 3,000 qualifying beneficiaries will be relocated.
Sources :
- Blikkiesdorp Joint Committee and the City of Cape Town committed to working together
- De Lille, residents working on solution for Blikkiesdorp
- Blikkiesdorp tired of City of Cape Town’s ‘lies’
- City offers Blikkiesdorp residents fraction of houses needed
- 3000 Families must move
Image credit :
- (Cover picture) : Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
- (Airport runway) : www.iol.co.za