The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
ONE could be forgiven for mistaking Hopelyn Estate for a disused mine site at first glance. Located in Bulawayo on the main road to Harare, just after the suburb of Mahatshula, the estate does not yet show signs that it will develop into what is expected to be one of the top low to medium density suburbs in the city.
No buildings have gone up and the area around which it is expected to commence bears all the scars of the early stages of construction. Earth has been scooped up to signal intent and construction appears to be on the horizon. The 600sqm to 800sqm stands that make up the estate cost US$16 800 each and when it is complete it is expected to become one of the premier residential communities in the city.
It is one of many such suburbs that are changing the landscape of Bulawayo. In Pelandaba West, Emhlangeni, Hopeville and Emganwini, new suburbs are mushrooming and changing the face of the city. In January, the local authority availed 2400 housing stands in Emganwini to three local contractors- Heavenview Properties, Veluntina Investments and Cabinlock Construction. The three contractors will be expected to develop them before selling them to prospective home owners in the city.
Earlier this month, Thompson Properties announced a massive new housing project that will see 8 500 stands being developed on a 5 000-acre area along the Bulawayo-Gwanda road. The project is going to be predominantly low and medium density with a shopping mall, school, hospital and light industries. It is a 5 000-acre project with about 8 500 stands measuring between 2 000 to 4 000 square metres which will be developed over time in the coming years.
“Development is run by professional companies all from Bulawayo. We love Bulawayo, we want to see Bulawayo prosper and we want to see Zimbabwe prosper. We began selling the stands to people from all over the world,” Mr Jonathan Thompson, the Thompson Properties director said.
According to the city’s Mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni, such new developments are meant to ease the city’s housing backlog which currently stands at around 100 000.
“The city has entered into service contracts with contractors who are servicing residential stands in the medium to low density residential areas to ease the plus or minus 100 000 housing backlog. Our target when we came in 2018 was to avail about 3000 stands per year,” he said.
Clr Mguni said the council would be availing more stands in the near future as they tried to eat into the city’s considerable housing backlog.
“We have works going on in Cowdray Park and Emganwini but unfortunately, we faced challenges mainly due to monetary policy changes in 2019 which have affected the operational costs for our pre-sale projects in Emganwini and Magwegwe West. We are however, optimistic that we may soon be commissioning a phase in Highmount area.
Our target is to have significantly reduced the housing backlog by at least a third by the time the current council leaves office at the end of its term,” he said.
While council painted an optimistic picture about the development of new suburbs, construction expert Mr Qalisani Ndlovu said it was not yet clear how much of an impact this would have on the housing backlog in a city in which people are starving for land.
“When you’re looking at urban sprawl, you’re looking at a city that is spreading outwards, which is what we are experiencing in Zimbabwe right now. I would say it’s a bit immature for a city like Bulawayo to have subdivisions that we are seeing popping around the city because they are owned by certain companies and individuals. I am more of the view that it is more on the profit side than solving a housing crisis in Bulawayo.
“It is anticipated that the city is going to grow and if you look at the housing list, it paints a picture of many people in need of housing. These subdivisions are popping up and it is said that they are the answer to the housing problem but if you observe in a year or two there is not going to be much movement on the housing waiting list but there will be a lot of movement on the subdivisions part,” he said.
Mr Ndlovu said his main bone of contention with the new suburbs was that they were beyond the reach of many people in Bulawayo. Hence, he said, city residents might find themselves at a disadvantage as outsiders snapped up the new stands.
