The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube and Leonard Ncube, Sunday News Reporters
A HOUSING boom is expected in the country which will see an initial 2 000 civil servants getting houses in a pilot project that has already started in Bulawayo with the recipients expected to move into their houses in April next year.
The project is set to spread to Harare and Marondera once the pilot project has been completed with more units being constructed for the Government workers.
The initiative will go a long way in addressing the national housing backlog that is currently pegged at just over two million.
Providing decent accommodation for workers and citizens is one of the top priority areas for the Second Republic which targets to provide 1,2 million housing units by 2030 to clear the 1,5 million housing backlog countrywide.
President Mnangagwa launched the Zimbabwe National Human Settlement Policy in September last year and the Ministry of National Housing is operationalising the policy in partnership with the private sector in line with Vision 2030 and National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
A housing project
Delivering affordable and quality settlements in urban and rural areas is one of the Government’s core targets to improve access to affordable and quality housing and social amenities under the economic blueprint.
The Government is working on various housing schemes for its workers with flats planned at health institutions, amid plans to have onsite accommodation at all places of work.
Most of the works is in partnership with the private sector, and Shelter Afrique, a pan-African housing development financier that provides housing solutions in the continent recently extended a US$25 million sovereign credit facility towards the construction of 3 000 housing units countrywide, with at least 300 units expected for each of the 10 provinces.
In the Bulawayo civil servants’ housing scheme, over 2 000 Government workers from the city are set to get houses at Emthunzini suburb which is being administered by Hawkflight Construction and another developer who will build houses in the Rangemore area.
The Bulawayo scheme was initiated by Zanu-PF provincial chairperson, Cde Jabulani Sibanda, who was, however not reachable when contacted for comment.
Hawkflight’s legal and operations manager, Mr Martin Moyo yesterday revealed that after the completion of the pilot project in Bulawayo they will move to Harare then Marondera.
“This is a facility which as a company we have been doing for some time but this time around the Government is taking a lead role where it has been noted that there is a need to empower our civil servants by giving them their own houses.
“What will happen is that those interested will pay an administration fee of US$250 then they will get a complete house, either a two or four roomed and then they will pay monthly rentals of US$158 or US$198 respectively, for the next 25 years,” said Mr Moyo.
He said as a company that is into property construction they had seen it fit to come up with the scheme so as to play their role in the development of the nation.
“The Bulawayo project is a pilot programme to the nationwide venture where we will move to Harare then Marondera, where civil servants will be given the houses of their choice. This is the little we can do towards the Second Republic’s goal of leaving no one and no place behind,” said Mr Moyo.
Meanwhile, the Government is also working on modalities to facilitate a housing scheme for journalists in the country with plans already underway to build 1 000 flats as part of the first phase.
Land would also be availed to journalists to start projects.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Kindness Paradza made the revelations at the recent Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) retreat in Victoria Falls saying providing accommodation for journalists is one of the strategies the Ministry will implement with the aim of improving conditions of service for members of the Fourth Estate.
The Deputy Minister, Cde Kindness Paradza
Deputy Minister Paradza said the scheme came through engagements with the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) and a private developer has already been identified with modalities being worked out.
“What we have done as a Ministry is that after the ZUJ leadership came to see us with the Minister (Monica Mutsvangwa) they talked about lack of accommodation for their members and also land in terms of farms and plots.
“The Minister assigned me to go and find out whether we can have investors who are willing to assist in this regard and so we have identified one developer who we are working with right now. The developer has sent in the proposal and the Minister is dealing with that,” said Deputy Minister Paradza.
He said engagements are underway as he had been assigned to spearhead the process.
“So this land developer has the capacity to build for now, 1 000 flats for journalists who will have to pay say 10 percent deposit and thereafter pay just a minimum for a period of time. So we are working on that and the flats will be everywhere in all provinces.
The idea is to engage local authorities to set up land for these developers,” he said.
ZUJ secretary-general Perfect Hlongwane said the engagements are part of efforts to address the welfare of journalists.
He said ZUJ has about 1 500 members across the country and is on a mobilisation and recruitment drive to grow numbers.
“It’s a fact that a scheme is being worked on to ensure that our journalists are home owners which is something that we set out to do from the onset.
We have been engaging and we continue to do so with the public and private sectors for this and we are happy that the Ministry gave us an ear and have so far identified a land developer who we shall let people know of in due course when we are done with the preliminary process,” said Hlongwane.
