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Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
CONSTRUCTION work at Bulawayo’s new $2 billion upmarket residential project, Hopeville suburb will commence soon.
Thompson Properties managing director Mr Jonathan Thompson said servicing of residential stands for Phase One of the project has been completed.
“Phase One stands are nearly sold out and we now have a Compliance Certificate for it. We also have five building plans that are ready and have been approved . . . beneficiaries can build using their own plans or use our own. We are now at a point where we are delivering on all the promises that we made.
“Roads are fully tarred, street signs done, sewer and storm drains (systems) are in, surveying has been done and all the stands have been marked so we are ready to do transfers, even for the model homes already they are starting construction as well,” said Mr Thompson.
Phase One residential stands range from 500 square metres to more than 1 000 and would comprise 400 housing units.
Phase One would comprise cluster houses, garden flats, gated communities, duplex houses as well as individually designed houses as per council requirement based on the location of the property.
The Hopeville Project located on the outskirts of Bulawayo was initiated by a consortium of local businesspeople with Thompson Properties being contracted as an agent to oversee the scheme.
The entire project, which can be equated to Kempton Park in neighbouring South Africa, would see the construction of 20 000 plush and affluent houses, upmarket shopping malls as well as state-of-the-art recreational facilities.
“They (consortium) are really trying to take a fresh look at how medium density is done. So it’s not just cheap houses but its actual houses for professional people and we are trying to look even into the future and new and fresh ways of doing things and doing it even better. The real thing is they wanted to deliver affordable housing and want to deliver all the promises that we have made for Hopeville,” said Mr Thompson.
He said beneficiaries intending to build houses on their own would do so under supervision so as to ensure that their infrastructure meets the required standards.
“Beneficiaries can build their own houses but they have to comply with medium-density standards. We are requesting that they bring their plans to us and we adjust them if there is need to because we want a certain quality . . . We have got another three sets of plans that we want to get through as well,” said Mr Thompson.
The infrastructural development programme would be carried out in three stages with stage one which is estimated to cost more than $100 million comprising homes, a shopping complex, gymnasium, library, three schools, local authority offices as well as land reserved for the construction of churches.
“For Phase II, III and IV the servicing has already started. If they need more labour on one side they pull across but the team doing the servicing will be a different team to the ones doing construction. So the servicing will continue going forward, so none of those is going to slow down. It’s actually moving forward very quickly.
“Beneficiaries are excited. They have their title deeds in hands and will start doing their construction. So in the next couple of months we will start seeing construction work. We have probably 50 houses that are under mortgage waiting for their building plans to come out and once that is done those houses need to be built within 90 days, once their loans are approved,” said Mr Thompson.
derick.khumalo