Cape Town — Preparations are underway to hand over the first 30 homes of the N2 Gateway Housing project in Delft to their rightful owners by Friday this week.

"Plans are underway to handover more than 100 houses per week, until all the rightful owners take ownership of their homes, while a complete list of the 1600 beneficiaries would be published this week," said N2 Gateway Pilot Project General Manager, Prince Xhanti Sigcawu on Monday.

This comes after the recent eviction of more than 1000 backyard dwellers who had been illegally residing in the unfinished premises.

He said the housing units were supposed to be handed over in December 2007, but could not be due to the invasion.

The contractors who returned to the building site last Wednesday were still busy completing an assessment of damages requiring remedial work, but parallel to the assessment, they are carrying out the remedial work itself.

The houses on the Cape Flats, were vandalised during the two month illegal invasion by over 1000 backyard dwellers, are part of the N2 Gateway Housing Project.

The backyard dwellers had left a trail of vandalised ceilings, plumbing, wiring, windows and doors in their wake.

Mr Sigwawu said 70 percent of the homes will go to former residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement and the remaining 30 percent will go to the former residents of backyard accommodation in the broad Delft area.

Meanwhile, he said new houses under construction in another part of Delft, known as Delft 7-9, are nearing completion.

The first 130 of these houses will be ready for handover by the end of March, Mr Sigwawu said.

"Thereafter, handovers will proceed at a rate of 300-400 per month until all 3900 have been completed."

The N2 Gateway is a national pilot project aiming to pioneer a new and improved housing policy that will see the delivery of more and better-quality houses for the poorest South Africans in integrated human settlements.

It entails providing 22 000 homes, associated infrastructure, community facilities, and access to transportation and economic opportunities.

The eviction in the houses has displaced a few hundred people who are reported to be camping on the outskirts of the site for almost a week.

The Cape Town Municipality has provided tents as shelter, water and toilet facilities until the new sites were fitted with basic services.

Once at the new sites, they would be given materials to build informal structures until formal housing was allocated.