The National Home Builders' Registration Council (NHBRC), which regulates the home building industry and protects the interests of housing consumers, has a backlog of housing unit enrolment applications due to a recent strike by the council's staff and Eskom's load shedding. This has put cash flow pressure on some construction companies.
Some builders claimed the delay by the NHBRC in issuing certificates affected their cash flow as banks refused to release any loan funds for housing units until presented with an NHBRC certificate.
The delay in conducting inspections was also a problem as it meant the next phase in building could not commence.
Phetola Makgathe, the NHBRC's chief executive, confirmed on Friday that the organisation had a backlog in enrolment data it had to capture but was unable to quantify it or say how long it would take to eradicate.
However, Makgathe said it outsourced inspections and inspectors were not on strike.
Makgathe said the NHBRC did a quality assurance audit on the inspectorate and this had not taken place during the strike, but the backlog in inspections was small.
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He confirmed the generation of new enrolment certificates was affected by the strike and recent load shedding, and was of concern. But he said the strike did not affect all nine provinces and the NHBRC had acquired its own generator to deal with load shedding.
The NHBRC had written to banks to request them to relax their requirements on enrolment certificates to allow construction to commence.
Makgathe said the NHBRC was dealing with the backlog but he was unsure how much progress had been made.
He said the strike by members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) members at the NHBRC had lasted for about a week and had ended on May 26.
Makgathe said Nehawu members were striking about a performance bonus grading system. The union had given in and the offer by the NHBRC stood.
By Roy Cokayne
www.busrep.co.za
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