The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE 271 housing stands beneficiaries at Highmount can now begin construction work after the developer completed servicing the area.
The stands had gone for a long period without being completed but was not referred for arbitration after the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and the developer, Aggregate Construction managed to reach a consensus.
The city has previously encountered problems with private developers which has seen more than 3 000 stands that were being developed by private developers being left uncompleted with the local authority forced to take legal action to resolve the impasse.
Sunday News on Friday visited Highmount and found a majority of the beneficiaries have begun constructing their houses, with some even nearing completion. Those interviewed said they were excited that the area had been completed with all the necessary amenities being in place like roads, sewer and water reticulation.
“As you see the roads are all fully tarred, water and sewer reticulation, we bought these stands via pre-sale arrangement and now that the developer has completed his obligation the task is now on us to see to it that we start constructing. Yes, at one point we were frustrated with the pace of the servicing because we got these stands in 2018 but through engaging the local authority and the developer, what was important is that servicing did not at any time stop,” said one of the beneficiaries.
Contacted for comment BCC corporate communications manager, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu confirmed that the servicing of the stands was now complete noting this was going a long way in the local authority’s housing provision endeavours.
She commended the beneficiaries of the stands at Highmount for the patience they had exhibited revealing that the local authority was particularly excited that the project had finally come to fruition.
“That project is part of the city’s contributions towards the National Development Strategy 1, particularly in terms of housing provision. As a local authority we remain committed to housing provision and we are working tirelessly to ensure that all other pending projects are completed.
We further call on beneficiaries in other areas where the developments are now under arbitration, to be patient and assure them that the local authority is doing everything in their powers to ensure that the arbitration process is completed timeously and the areas can be fully serviced so that construction work can commence,” said Mrs Mpofu.
She emphasised that their main goal was of housing provision and reducing the housing waiting list as guided by NDS1.
A number of housing projects in the city have been left hanging after most private developers did not finish their work after demanding to be paid in US dollars at a time the country was using the local currency pegged at par with the US dollar, an arrangement that council could not manage.
