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Apr 15, 2008:
The City of Cape Town is in the process of ramping up its ability to deal with the number of old and derelict buildings that are holding up economic development in the City.
Mayoral Committee Member for Planning and Environment, Marian Nieuwoudt, said derelict buildings were prevalent in areas like Woodstock, Lansdowne and Sea Point.
She said the problem held up economic development, with the buildings often acting as a "breeding ground" for crime.
Nieuwoudt said the Planning, Environment, Land Use and Building Control portfolio committee of the City had appointed a task team to develop a bylaw to deal with the issue, which they hoped to put to council before the end of the year.
She said currently existing building and environmental health regulations were used to crack down on decrepit buildings, but this was "cumbersome and we are trying to see if we can have a Cape Town-specific process to deal with it".
Chairman of both the Good Hope sub council and the City's Safety and Security portfolio committee, Jean Pierre Smith, said the Sea Point area had "very few" derelict buildings, but that the problem was "out of control" in Salt River.
He said one of the results was that people living close to derelict buildings moved out of the area and sought accommodation elsewhere.
He said current laws for dealing with derelict buildings were "toothless" and did not give the City powers to impose fines on the owners of derelict buildings.
Nieuwoudt said the City carried the responsibility for ensuring the structural integrity of old buildings or buildings under construction and implemented this by ensuring compliance with the national building regulations.
In terms of Section 12(2) of the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act the owner of a building that was unsafe must immediately inform the City.
Nieuwoudt said at least three owners had contacted her office to say they had a problem and asking for assistance, but currently there was no financial assistance being offered by the City.
The City had an obligation in terms of Section 12(3) to order an owner to instruct an engineer or architect to report to the City on what was being done to make a dangerous building safe, with the owner having to appoint an engineer to make the building safe.
However, the City could order that the building be vacated until it had been made safe. - Patrick Burnett and Peter Luhanga, West Cape News
