The unfinished R11 billion Montrose Mega City housing project in Randfontein. Picture: X/@Funzi_Ngobeni Gauteng is littered with incomplete and abandoned infrastructure projects that cost taxpayers millions of rands, revealing systemic failure in project management and oversight. In Randfontein on the West Rand, the R11 billion Montrose Mega City housing project is a stark symbol of this collapse, with the abandoned site now a wasteland of stripped windows and bathtubs, crumbling walls and unstable staircases.
Launched in 2017 as a flagship intervention to address Gauteng’s housing backlog, Montrose was meant to deliver more than 10 500 housing units. The province’s housing backlog exceeds 1.3 million units. The project stalled after the contractor was reportedly liquidated, with about R46 million spent before construction stopped.
According to the Gauteng department of human settlements, the project was halted following the termination of its contract with SCM Developments, citing “financial difficulties”. The department had planned to build 5 600 housing units during the project’s first phase. The project, launched by then premier David Makhura and then human settlements MEC and now deputy president Paul Mashatile, was meant to include housing for 174 military veterans.
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Only a few veterans were reportedly given incomplete units. The developer reportedly abandoned the site in 2018, citing lack of funds due to demands from construction mafia.
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