Municipality Amendment Bill aims to hold developers more accountable

The Select Committee on Finance has informally adopted the Municipal Fiscal Powers and Functions Amendment Bill. The Bill aims to ensure municipalities impose development charges for the provision of bulk infrastructure for new land developments.

National Treasury estimates that municipalities fail to recover about R20 billion each year that could be raised from development charges. Parliament’s legal advisor Frank Jenkins says developers will now have mandatory contracts with municipalities over development charges.

“The clause in the present Bill 9F is legal matter that needs to be dealt with so you have mandatory contract that must be concluded between the municipality and the developer. I think there has been a lot said in the media about unhappy people buying property within a development and they can’t help the developer to account because of a lack of such an agreement with the relevant municipality,” says Jenkins.

Meanwhile, National Treasury chief director Wendy Fanoe says it’s municipalities that will make the final determination over development charges.

“We realised there can be challenge if the applicant and the municipality cannot agree that’s why we added from what we previously presented if the municipality and the applicant do not agree then the municipalities determination will then apply so that’s the amendment we’ve made since the last presentation,” says Fanoe.