City of Tshwane to sort out student accommodation

In the State of the City Address on Thursday, Ramokgopa announced that the City has appointed developers, as part of the West Capital Development, to provide accommodation to 7 000 students in the City.

"We approved a report for the redevelopment of Marabastad as part of West Capital Development.

"This includes the development of student accommodation as a direct response to the backlog of student accommodation of 66 000 beds. This project will commence in the next financial year," he said.

As part of efforts to cultivate a healthy learning environment, Ramokgopa said the City will, through their Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) initiative, commit about 300 workers to help with the cleaning and maintenance of schools and provincial public healthcare facilities.

Ramokgopa will be signing an agreement with the relevant provincial MECs to give legal effect to this initiative.

He said Tshwane, as the capital city and host to four public higher education institutions, had a competitive edge to lead the knowledge economy in the country. The institutions are the Tshwane University of Technology, University of Pretoria, University of South Africa and the Medical University of South Africa.

He further said the City would commit R2 million to its partnership with The Innovation Hub to create a platform for communities, particularly the youth of Tshwane, to enable better engagement with the city, so as to identify and develop smart solutions to some of the challenges the City is currently facing.