Public works to lease out more properties to private sector
The department is fast-tracking the process to reduce the number of vacant state-owned buildings
The public works department is fast-tracking the process of letting out state-owned properties to the private sector. The department says this will help to reduce the number of vacant, unsecured and unguarded state-owned properties, thereby increasing its revenue stream and reducing property holding costs. In 2018, the department said it was in the process of categorising R7.5bn worth of unused properties for letting and permanent disposal. “Properties that are surplus to the needs of government shall be used to generate revenue and such will be advertised on an open tender basis,” public works minister Thulas Nxesi said at the time. Critics of the drive to amend section 25 of the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation often argue that the state should focus on redistributing land under its ownership, some of which is unaccounted for or underused. The state has a property portfolio of more than 93,000 buildings and more than 1.9-million hectares of land under t...
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