Chairperson, Deputy Minister, chairperson of the select committee, hon members, hon guests, ladies and gentlemen in the House, the Eastern Cape department of human settlements is in a transitional stage as it gears itself towards full implementation and delivery on the Outcome 8 approach for integrated sustainable human settlements development. In doing so, the department has reorganised and repositioned itself to assume the pivotal role of mobilising all sector departments towards co-ordinated and integrated planning and budgeting processes.
We are in the process of establishing human settlements and basic service delivery forums in all our eight regions, which will serve as a co- ordinating forum towards achieving intersectoral collaboration. We have further committed ourselves to providing planning support to 39 municipalities to review their housing chapters and integrated development plans.
In pursuit of this extended mandate, we will further be focusing inwardly to create a functional, transparent, predictable and fair department that is responsive to the needs of the people. In this regard, one of our key deliverables is to redesign the department's business model in relation to its core functions, so as to sufficiently enable the delivery of quality houses to the marginalised poor of our society. The department is now at the stage of finalisation of its revised service delivery model.
We need to reiterate that we are clear on the mandate of the department, and that is to build quality houses for the betterment of the lives of the poor. It is imperative that we understand that quality can never be compromised at the expense of chasing numbers. We want to see this outcome realised through a "happy letter" in the hands of a satisfied customer. This is a demonstration of the apex of our commitment. To this end we will focus on priority activities that are aimed at achieving the national targets and outcomes. The implementation of these activities will be closely monitored to ensure the early identification of challenges and responding to them timeously with the requisite interventions.
Our department has risen to the call for an outcomes-based management system and we have aligned our priority focus areas to those of Outcome 8. More than any other province, we are acutely aware of how the policy of segregation has resulted in the exclusion of large sections of the population from economic, social and environmental benefits of vibrant, sustainable and urban development. We are faced with limited employment opportunities in this province and an increase in rural-to-urban migration trends has contributed to the steady growth of informal settlements, particularly in the Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Metro Municipalities.
According to Census 2001, the number of informal settlements in the Eastern Cape was 205, translating into a housing need totalling 117 719 units, with an estimated funding requirement of R9,4 billion. Ten years later it is clear that these estimates have grown exponentially and that the current allocation is wholly inadequate to address the continued mushrooming of informal settlements. The department is currently enlisting strategic partners to further assist in the eradication of informal settlements, as well as exploring the use of alternative technologies.
To assist in this regard, we have completed the first draft of the White Paper on the Prevention of the Mushrooming of Informal Settlements, which will be tabled at the legislature shortly. We have further prioritised the Duncan Village redevelopment initiative, which has been escalated into a presidential project and we have ring-fenced an amount of R120 702 million to speed up housing development in this area. This project is expected to yield 1 629 units in the current financial year.
As the Eastern Cape is predominantly rural, our department will continue to make a meaningful contribution to the rural development priorities and we have aligned our rural housing policy accordingly. Our strategy for rural settlement development includes the reprioritisation of O R Tambo and Cacadu District Municipalities, implementation of the rural housing policy, implementation of the rural housing voucher and the revitalisation of the enhanced people's housing processes.
The voucher programme entails the issuing of a housing subsidy to rural beneficiaries in the form of a voucher for the purchasing of building materials and services. The rural housing subsidy voucher will be piloted in three identified municipalities, namely Umzimvubu in Alfred Nzo, Mhlontlo in O R Tambo and Intsika Yethu in Chris Hani District Municipalities.
We have taken heed of the President's call that 2011 is a year for job creation, and we will ensure that 9 200 employment opportunities are created through our project implementation. We have already put in place the following processes: that all projects must be Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, compliant; and that all contracts must meet EPWP requirements regarding job creation specifications, giving priority to vulnerable groups, namely women, youth and the disabled. We are mindful of the critical role the human settlement sector can play in economic development and poverty eradication.
The department remains committed to promoting sound corporate governance and fighting fraud and corruption, both within the department as well as in our housing projects. To this end, elements of the anticorruption policy are already being implemented, which include conducting awareness-raising campaigns, closely collaborating with law enforcement agencies, and conducting a departmental fraud risk assessment, which will ultimately culminate in the development of our fraud risk plan.
In achieving Outcome 8 priorities, as articulated in the policy speech and the department's annual performance plan, we have identified the following key deliverables for the financial year: Output 1, which is informal settlement upgrade: 15 400 housing units to be completed; and 15 660 basic services to be installed, of which 6 981 will be installed in urban areas and 8 679 will be installed in the rural areas. The services that will be installed in the rural areas include toilets, water tanks and access roads. An amount of R280 million will be spent on in situ upgrading of informal settlements, as well as the relocation projects which comprise 12,85% of the conditional grant budget allocation.
It is worth mentioning that the Eastern Cape has six active Breaking New Ground projects, namely Siyanda in Mnquma Municipality, Ngangelizwe in the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality, Elliotdale in Mbhashe Municipality, Thornhill in Ndlambe Municipality, Zanemvula in the Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality and Duncan Village in the Buffalo City Municipality. These projects are beginning to test the implementation of the principles of sustainable development and the promotion of health, social cohesion and inclusion.
For Output 2, R40 million has been set aside for the purchasing of five land parcels, four of which are located within the Buffalo City Municipality and one in the Nelson Mandela Municipality.
For Output 3, R154 million is set aside for the development of 1 150 social rental housing units in three projects and the piloting of community residential units in five local municipalities. This accounts for 7,05% of the conditional grant budget allocation.
For Output 4, rural housing, R135 million has been allocated for rural housing development, and it amounts to 6,21% of the conditional grant budget allocation.
Under rectification, which is Output 5, during this financial year, 3 526 defective houses will be rectified. An amount of R218 million will be spent on the rectification of defective houses. The department will be working closely with national departments towards achieving this output.
In conclusion, I wish to thank all our partners for supporting the department in its commitment to provide housing opportunities to deserving beneficiaries and for their continued contribution to the creation of sustainable and integrated human settlement development. [Applause.]