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Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
LUPANE State University (LSU) has started constructing a US$24 million student accommodation facility which is expected to house more than 1 800 students as it moves to ease housing shortages and bring study convenience to its students.
The development follows the recent completion of warden houses. The project is being implemented through a partnership between the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) and Lupane State University. IDBZ which is funding the project acquired seven hectares of land, a kilometre from Lupane Business Centre.
Following the approval of the designs for the project and the completion of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), construction works began at the beginning of the year with two warden houses having already been completed while work on the actual facility have commenced.
Lupane State University assistant to the Vice Chancellor Dr Julius Tapera told Sunday News in an interview that significant progress has been made with the construction of the actual facility having commenced.
“We entered into a partnership with IDBZ for the construction of accommodation facilities as well as a commercial centre.
They have already completed constructing two warden houses and they have now moved on to the actual structure.
“Upon completion, the structure will have a capacity to accommodate 1 836 students,” said Dr Tapera.
He said the construction of the facility was expected to facilitate institutional growth and enhance convenience to students.
“The construction is in four phases which will collectively take 36 months to complete. The first phase will, however, take 18 months. The completion of the project will enhance institutional growth.
“This is because as we introduce more programmes our enrolment also increases and this facility will aid those developments.
“It will also bring convenience to students as they will be able to get everything within the facility, be it study room, WiFi and other necessities,” he said.
The facility will comprise a dining hall and a commercial centre that will house various outlets. The project which is under the IDBZ’s University Students and Staff Accommodation Programme (USSAP) is meant to ease accommodation problems at the country’s universities where 75 percent of the 69 973 students enrolled by all State universities have no access to on-campus accommodation. Soon after the Lupane project, the bank is expected to commence work in Bindura, Chinhoyi and other parts of the country where there are State universities.
Space at the US$17 million student accommodation complex near the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) in Bulawayo has been taken up as a number of students from different institutions have taken up residence with hundreds who have been making enquiries failing to get accommodated following its completion.
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