CBTAZ, BancABC in homes partnership

the weekend, is expected to counteract the effects of a limited mortgage market in the country, especially on cross-border traders.
A limited mortgage market combined with the prevailing liquidity crunch has resulted in both rural and urban councils in the country generally failing to generate resources for housing projects.
The association’s president, Mr Killer Zivhu, said in terms of his organisation’s partnership with BancABC, its members will open respective personal accounts in which they will create savings for the organisation’s housing scheme.
“The housing scheme is different from most housing schemes in that while others usually carry a single account for all members, ours will see each member opening his/her individual account to hold savings for the scheme.
“Each member of the scheme will be required to make an initial deposit of            US$2 000.
“The idea behind the initiative is to raise capital to build houses for cross-border traders who usually fail to access the few mortgages that are available due to lack of security,” he said.
A BancABC official confirmed the partnership and indicated that the launch will be held this Saturday in Bulawayo.
Zimbabwe has a housing backlog estimated at around 1,2 million urban houses.
The local housing sector therefore has got a number of investment opportunities — on the basis of adequate financing — notably servicing of land (development of stands or provision of onsite infrastructure), offsite infrastructure and production of rental housing stock.
The association’s president, however, said the intention was to lobby the Government for housing stands for its members although their efforts were yet to bear fruit as                        they await response from the relevant authorities.
“We have since written to the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities and the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement, respectively, to provide our association with unused peri-urban land across all the 10 provinces so that we can commence our housing projects. We are still awaiting their responses,” he said.
“At the same time our members will also benefit as they will be able to use their properties as security to borrow funds from local financial institutions.” 
The association’s members and small-to-medium enterprises in general have been hard-pressed in accessing funding from local financial institutions that typically require forms of security that micro-businesses usually do not have.
Meanwhile, the association has also come up with a credit card facility with the same institution for its membership.
“The credit card facility will help curb the foreign exchange black market, and at the same time reduce cross-border traders’ vulnerability to conmen and thieves,” said Mr Zivhu.