A dilapidated government building in Durban could be renovated and use as a student residence.
|||Durban - A dilapidated government building in Durban could be renovated and handed to the Durban University of Technology (DUT) to use as a student residence.
The provincial Department of Human Settlements indicated during a portfolio committee meeting in Pietermaritzburg on Friday that it wanted to dispose of Westpoint Lodge in Margaret Mncadi Avenue (Victoria Embankment).
The department had bought the building for R7 million nearly a decade ago but its value had dropped to R5.9m, owing to vandalism.
According to a department report presented to the committee, the DUT and the eThekwini Municipality had both shown interest in the building.
The municipality wanted to use it for its social housing programme, to accommodate residents who were disqualified from RDP houses because of their salaries but who could not afford home loans.
The report said the DUT had expressed interest in the building because of the shortage of student accommodation in the city.
Members of the portfolio committee had advised the department to prioritise student accommodation.
The department, which still pays R52 700 a year in rates to the municipality, had considered the best option would be to renovate the building and donate it to the university.
The 12-storey building has 81 single rooms.
The building is without electricity and water and is occupied illegally by about 18 families.
Last year, the building was damaged by a fire that killed two children.
Many of the flats have broken windows.
Spokesman Alan Khan said the DUT welcomed the opportunity to discuss the possibility of acquiring Westpoint Lodge.
The Mercury