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Conrad Mupesa
Mashonaland West Bureau
THOUSANDS of home-seekers in Kariba have had their hopes of owning properties revived after the Kasese Housing Scheme got back on track two months ago.
Development of the area between Kariba Airport and resort town’s Nyamhunga suburb, was halted due to the expiry of the Environmental Impact Assessment report and other legal concerns raised by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) on boundary issues.
The scheme is expected to provide accommodation to thousands of residents including those in Mahombekombe high density suburb, whose lives were threatened by high voltage power cables under which their houses are built.
After operations were temporarily halted four years ago when the contractor, Integrated Construction Projects (ICP), had managed to cover 55 percent of works including internal sewer and water reticulation, roads, reservoir construction and construction of anaerobic ponds.
However, four rainy seasons negatively affected the works with the contractor re-instituting re-works.
National Housing and Social Amenities Deputy Minister, Yeukai Simbanegavi who toured Kasese Housing Scheme last week, said the development augured well with the country’s National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) as accommodation seekers in the resort town would benefit.
“We have come to check the progress at the ongoing Kasese Project. This is the project that we started quite some time ago and as you can see, the contractor is on site and work is resuming well,” she said.
“Roads are on 95 percent and everything is going on well. About 1 500 people are set to benefit from this development.
This scheme comes as a solution to 390 families living under power lines in Mahombekombe who are set to be relocated to Kasese when the right time comes.
“By the end of this year, we expect to have completed the project because our duty as Government, is to make sure that no one faces accommodation challenges. We also want to applaud everyone who is being involved in this project, their efforts are appreciated,” added Deputy Minister Simbanegavi.
In addition, Kariba Municipality is also working on the Kariba augmentation project which entails the upgrading of the water source.
“On the same standpoint of ensuring that water is available, the project will cover the following items in making sure that everyone gets water service delivery as expected,” said Simbanegavi.
Kariba’s housing and social amenities committee chairman and ward 6 Councillor, Mr Rhodreck Mugwanhira said the move by the Government would ease accommodation pressures.
“We want to applaud the Government for the project which we think has come at the right time. It has not been easy especially for the families housed under the power lines,” he said.
A Mahombekombe resident, Mr Simon Banda said living under the high voltage power lines was life threatening to them.
“We are grateful for the resumption of operations. We have stayed under these power lines for decades and it is by God’s grace that nothing serious happened,” he said.
Online Reporter