adminSydney Kawadza Mash West Bureau Chief
Authorities in Mashonaland West Province are under pressure to arrest a ballooning housing waiting list, with most urban centres bemoaning lack of land for expansion. The housing waiting list covering the City of Kadoma, Chinhoyi, Chegutu, Norton, Karoi and Kariba currently stands at 31 350, with the number expected to rise as other service centres continue growing.
Centres with a huge potential of growing in the province include Sanyati, Turf (Mhondoro-Ngezi), Murereka, Murombedzi, Mamina, Banket, Mhangura and Mubaira just to mention, but a few.
The City of Kadoma is saddled with a housing waiting list of 12 500 while Chinhoyi has a modest 696 as at January this year, with Chegutu trying to cover 1 600 home-seekers who are desperately seeking accommodation.
Norton Town Council (8 553), Turf (736), Chirundu (937), Murereka (1 982) and Mhangura (495) are some of the centres across in Mashonaland West that have people in desperate need of houses. Kadoma mayor Councillor Action Nyamukondiwa recently revealed that efforts to give residents houses was being affected by serious shortages of land for low density housing schemes.
“However, economic hardships are affecting servicing programmes for our housing schemes and these have affected our projects in Victory Park and Golden Heights,” he said.
The City of Kadoma is in the process of planning Phase 3 of the Victory Park Housing Scheme which has an estimated 2 500 stands while Phases 1 and 2 of the project are already active with 5 668 stands at different stages of servicing and development.
“We are also seeking land for development of low density suburbs while working with private land developers who are also absorbing home-seekers on council waiting list,” Cllr Nyamukondiwa said.
Active private schemes in Kadoma include Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, Rosebank, Berina, Destiny and Craft Properties among others. Chegutu Municipality director of housing Mrs Shylet Dzivai said the growing population in the agricultural and mining town has started to overwhelm their infrastructure. There is also unavailability of land for new housing projects while they also have challenges in servicing stands due to obsolete plant and machinery while the cost of servicing these has also become unattractive for partners due to liquidity problems.
Ongoing projects in Chegutu include Kaguvi Phase 3 for high density suburbs and Kaguvi Phase for 4 for medium density.
“Our plans to reduce the housing waiting list include building high-rise apartments to reduce the cost of housing delivery, public-private-partnerships, promoting low income housing projects, encouraging co-operatives administered by financial institutions and engaging private land developers,” she said.
Chinhoyi Municipality’s low housing waiting list is overshadowed by the increasing number of students at the Chinhoyi University of Technology estimated at about 12 000.
Spokesperson Mr Tichaona Mlauzi said people who have applied for stands include 453 (high density) and 243 people who have applied for stands at low density suburbs.
“Our waiting list is renewable every year so that we have current figures of those in need. In terms of developments we do not have any on-going scheme as council but we have private developers,” he said.
The municipality, he said, was also working with financial institutions including National Merchant Bank, National Building Society and Metropolitan Bank which are developing 1 645 stands.
According to Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo, the shortages of accommodation has, however, created opportunities for the design and construction of various infrastructures and private land development.
There are also opportunities for build-operate and transfer, PPP, non-governmental organisations, co-operatives and small-to-medium enterprises involved in construction and manufacturing of building materials.
Online Reporter