Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is considering the formation of a Women Construction Bank to focus on financing women-led cooperatives and construction companies involved in community infrastructure and human settlements projects.
Delivering a keynote address at the Policy Convention of the South African Women in Construction earlier this week, she said that it was her “dream” to establish a construction bank dedicated to assisting women in construction with bridging finance and loans for building material and vehicles.
Sisulu believes the National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency, after merging with the Rural Housing Loan Fund and the National Housing Finance Cooperation – two other development finance institutions within the Department of Human Settlements – will be able to assist with this “national task”.
This emerged after the Department of Human Settlements committed to allocating 30%, or R35-billion of its R150-billion human settlements project budget, over the next five years, to women- owned enterprises.