Chronicle EditorVusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Bulawayo City Council continues to make positive strides in its housing development with yet another project fast nearing completion with the developer positive that the remaining works will be completed in the next two weeks.
Over the past couple of months, the local authority has managed to commission two housing projects in Emganwini- 114 by Natwecraft Investments and 268 stands that were serviced by TCI International. This is the first time, in the past 10 years that the local authority has managed to engage developers that manage to complete all their servicing requirements in less than a year.
This came after the local authority adopted a new housing development strategy, where they engage developers with their own funds, instead of the traditional pre-sale concept. Already a third project in Cowdray Park, that was developed using the same strategy is set to be commissioned so, as the developer- Aggregate Private Limited- is working round the clock to complete the project.
BCC corporate communications manager, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the project missed its initial deadline because of rock outcrops and underlying rocks which were to be removed without the use of blasting because of proximity to existing buildings.
“The Cowdray Park (151 stands) servicing project is still ongoing and the contractor is currently on site. Water reticulation systems are 97 percent complete, sewer reticulation systems: 97 percent complete and roads and storm water drainage: 70 percent complete. The delay in the completion of the project is attributed to rock outcrops and underlying rocks which were to be removed without the use of blasting because of proximity to existing buildings, work stoppage during the rainy season given that the area is on low lying ground and machine breakdowns especially the dozer which is being used to remove rocks and boulders,” said Mrs Mpofu.
The council spokesperson said the outstanding works include surfacing of road pavement, construction of storm water drainage system while with regard to water and sewer the outstanding works include connection to the existing systems.
In an interview with Sunday News, Agregate director, Mr Themba Dube revealed that according to their plan of works they expected to complete all outstanding works within the next two weeks. He said before they noted the underlying rocks, they had aimed at completing the project within three months.
“Council at one point even suggested that they give us another site because of the rocks in the area but as a contractor we felt that we had already done a lot of preliminary works like creating the designs hence we decided to work on the site but some areas were not workable at all hence council decided to cancel about 59 of the original 151 stands. However, this week we start working on the roads and by two weeks this will have been completed, then we will start tiding up the site after which we will begin working on the preliminary requirements building towards the commissioning of the project,” said Mr Dube.
Online Reporter