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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) last week commissioned 114 new housing stands in Emgawnini.
The city has an annual requirement to release 3 000 stands as the city’s housing waiting list has ballooned to more than 130 000.
The delivery of the stands was done following a public-private partnership between the local authority and a local contractor Natwecraft Investments under the expression of interest scheme.
Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Solomon Mguni said while the commissioning 114 stands might seem like a drop in the ocean, it speaks to the local authority’s commitment to providing adequate houses for residents.
He said high-rise buildings are expected to be built in suburbs including Emganwini, Killarney West and Cowdray Park.
“In a bid to continue delivering the service and ensuring the fulfilment of the National Development Strategy 1, the City of Bulawayo has incorporated Government’s settlement policy which provides 40 percent of the high rise building for new layouts.
Our new layouts have been prepared to provide 40 percent high rise building sites.
These new layouts currently in the pipeline include Norwood tracks, Killarney East, Umvimila, Emganwini, Cowdray Park, Mabutweni and Mahatshula,” he said.
He said the Emgawnini housing stands were delivered under the expression of interest housing delivery strategy in the city.
“BCC has various strategies used in providing housing which include private developers, council servicing, the pre-sale scheme and the call for organisations and individuals with development finance to develop stands and service them.
The City of Bulawayo will continue using this strategy for housing delivery as it is yielding positive results.
We have expressions of interests that were recently advertised and we hope that we will be attending their commissioning soon,” said Clr Mguni.
He said the challenges in the macro-economic environment have affected the completion of some pre-sale housing stands.
The council has been failing to deliver some housing stands to home seekers who had paid for them under the pre-sale scheme.
“The City of Bulawayo is committed towards ensuring the completion of these projects.
We have set up an interdepartmental committee which is crafting a corporate policy for completing the outstanding works on pre-sale servicing projects.
This committee is committed towards ensuring fairness and transparency for the beneficiaries,” said Clr Mguni.
He said partnership with Government and private players are important in housing delivery projects considering that international institutions have stopped investing in the sector in the last 15 years.
Speaking during the same event, Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube commended the local authority for providing serviced stands to the city’s residents at a time when substandard houses without clean water and adequate sanitation are a global challenge.
She said housing delivery is also an economic enabler which is why it is included under the NDS1.
“The Government of Zimbabwe recognises housing delivery as one of the key pillars of the NDS1.
The NDS1 recognises that Government needs to prioritise citizens’ access to affordable and quality settlements in order to address challenges of the huge housing backlog and inadequacies of attendant infrastructure,” she said.
“I am glad that the City of Bulawayo has ensured that the relevant infrastructure is there for the stands we are commissioning today.
The Government of Zimbabwe further recognises that it is a shared responsibility of various partners in the public, private and non-Government sector and local communities in providing housing. The City of Bulawayo is complementing Government efforts in ensuring quality settlements.”
Minister Ncube said it was important for organisations with financial capacity to come on board for housing delivery.
She commended the local authority for introducing the expression of interest scheme in servicing stands.
“This was all in a bid to reduce the housing waiting list.
In line with the national vision of an upper middle-class economy by 2030, it is key for these developments to be in line with the smart city concept.
We need to ensure that we adopt the smart approaches in service delivery management and bring transformative solutions that strengthen housing delivery,” she said.
Minister Ncube challenged the local authority to ensure that new housing projects are compliant with high rise building policy.
“This can be realised with the Government’s settlement policy in fulfilment of the NDS1 that high rise building (flat) sites should be located within the various layouts.
While this may not have been implemented at this particular site, in a new layout there is need to ensure that 40 percent of the land is set aside for high rise buildings.
This will also ensure that we densify the land and also reduce the number of applicants on the housing waiting list,” said Minister Ncube.
Natwecraft Investments director Mr Nkululeko Moyo thanked the council for trusting his organisation to develop the housing stands.
“When we look at this initiative, we will look at the other initiatives that the council has rolled out, in my perception, private-public partnerships can be one of the tools that can help to meet the target and be able to achieve the targets of reducing this demand and alleviate the problem of housing prices especially if competent private developers who have skills, who have development finance can be awarded these projects.
I would like to thank the City of Bulawayo whose tireless efforts have resulted in this project,” he said.
– @nqotshili.
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