admina housing delivery meeting have said.
Liquidity challenges as well as limited capacity and skills in construction companies are impacting on housing delivery.
Housing developers and mayors who attended the housing delivery meeting chaired by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, agreed that Zimbabwe had enough land for housing development but was hamstrung by funding.
The majority of the housing land has been surveyed but cannot be developed because municipalities have no money to build roads, water and sewer facilities.
Some peri-urban farms acquired for housing development have been haphazardly occupied while some local authorities are repossessing land previously sold to developers because of delays in servicing it.
National Social Security Autho-rity general manager, Mr James Matiza, said his organisation had bought land for housing and com-mercial development in urban areas.
However, some councils have repossessed the land citing delays in development. He said NSSA had wanted to build houses but could not do so because local authorities that were mandated to provide off site infrastructure failed to do so.
The repossessed projects are Gimboki and Fern Hill in Mutare, Pumula South in Bulawayo and Runyararo West in Masvingo. Kwe-kwe is threatening to repossess a peri-urban farm bought by NSSA.
He said in Mutare, the Gimboki housing project failed to start because council failed to provide off site infrastructure.
Shamrock housing and Christ-mas Gift projects in Gweru failed to take off because the city doubled the price of land after realising that NSSA was the developer.
Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masu-nda said the city was reviewing the status of housing co-operatives, which have been collecting money from members but unable to secure housing land.
The city has been sitting on a US$15 million facility from CABS and Old Mutual to provide 4 500 houses in Budiriro. CABS official Mr Terry Kevin expressed his disappointment with the city.
Bulawayo mayor Thabani Mpofu, said the city had 99 000 people on the housing waiting list. Allocation is made on a first come basis. However, some people allocated the stands failed to take them up because of financial problems.
He said Bulawayo had 3 800 hectares for housing but did not have money to provide offsite infrastructure.
Kwekwe mayor Shadreck Tobai-wa said some of the people allocated residential stands ended up selling them to those who already had properties. The city has a housing backlog of 13 000.
He said all housing land being kept for speculative purposes is under repossession.
Mutare mayor Brian James, said his city had 1 700ha of housing land but could not provide offsite infrastructure.
Masvingo mayor Femias Chakabuda, said several thousands of stands were surveyed but could not be developed. He appealed for additional land for housing adding that the city did not benefit from the land reform programme.
He said should Government pay its debt totalling US$4.7 million, the city would be able to service land for housing. He said Masvingo was initially built for 35 000 people, but now had over 100 000 residents. No efforts have been made to improve the city’s water delivery capacity.
Online Reporter