Online Reporter
Miriam Chigonde
Herald Correspondent
CONSISTENCY in strategic collaborations between the public and private sectors will be critical in attaining the Government’s target of delivering one million housing units by 2030 under the National Development Strategy 2’s infrastructure development and housing national priority pillar, National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Professor Paul Mavima has said.
He was speaking to Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association (ZBCA) top executives who paid him a courtesy call at his Harare offices yesterday.
The ZCBA executives became the first group of industry professionals to visit him since his appointment to the housing portfolio about a week ago.
“Achieving one million housing units by 2030 is not an easy feat,” he said.
“It will take a lot of collaborations between us as Government and private sector players in the construction industry.
“You the contractors perform the actual building and the infrastructure development. There is no way we can deliver on this target without your participation.”
Prof Mavima advised professionals in the association to come up with innovations that will provide viable solutions to the present challenges facing the country such as climate change shocks and natural disasters.
Engineers, he explained, were at the centre of most innovations and the country is counting on them for guidance in finding solutions to avert the effects of these challenges through sustainable designs and other inventions.
On their part, the ZBCA spoke about the importance of strategic priorities for collaborations between Government and contractors in the provision of sustainable and affordable human settlements, suggesting the co-creation of affordable housing solutions for urban and rural communities.
ZBCA president Dr Tinashe Manzungu proposed the setting up of a task force or a core working group to look into expanding and deepening areas of collaboration and capacity building and skills development for contractors through ZBCA Academy for both rural and urban contractors to professionalise the sector.
“We would want to reaffirm our readiness to collaborate with Government through your ministry and to propose the formation of a task force or core working group that will look into possible ways in which we can work together for the achievement of the one million housing units target for 2030,” he said.
