CBZ to finance Urban Renewal programme

Conrad Mwanawashe Property Reporter —
CBZ Holdings will finance an Urban Renewal programme in Mbare where the bank in partnership with Harare City Council, will undertake the hostels renewal project at a cost to be determined soon.

The finer details of the Mbare Hostels renewal programme, will be enshrined in a Memorandum of Agreement that will be crafted after further interrogation of the partnership model and roles of each party.

Council has since resolved to enter into partnership with CBZ Properties (Pvt) Ltd for the purposes of the Urban Renewal of 58 blocks of hostels in Mbare.

The proposed model of apartments would be in three categories; one bedroom plus ablution; two bedroom plus ablution and three bedroom plus ablution.

Currently, council is losing significant revenue through paying cleaners for the hostels and through administrative costs of running a district office without any return from the residents.

Existing Mbare hostels are bedsitters with communal ablution facilities and this forced council to employ cleaners to maintain the apartments on a daily basis.

Also, hostel tenants had huge rental arrears- large sums which were written off but more had since accrued.

Hostels are supplied with water and electricity from bulk metres levied through the rentals so non-payment of rentals means free consumption of water and electricity.

The Mbare hostels are currently in a state of disrepair and efforts by council to engage partners to refurbish and upgrade the hostels have not been fruitful.

It is against that background that council engaged CBZ Properties to explore possible opportunities in property and infrastructure development.

Of the various business opportunities that were discussed, urban renewal of Mbare hostels was agreed as the top priority.

In their letter of intent to council, CBZ was aware of the scope of works to be done as the development model which include rehabilitation of the onsite infrastructure around the 58 blocks of hostels, that is, water and sewer reticulation and roads network.

Part of the scope of work also included the development of new blocks of apartments in between existing hostels for purposes of decongesting the current sitting tenants in the hostels and the reconstruction or refurbishment of the current hostels wherever possible to habitat structures.