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AS Zimbabweans continue to heed President Mnangagwa’s “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/ Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo” mantra, a new medium-density residential suburb is set to be established on 156 445 hectares, with 40 percent of the land earmarked for flats and cluster housing, near Bellevue suburb in Bulawayo.
The proposed suburb is about 6km south-west of the city centre, off Plumtree Road and is bounded by Plumtree Road, Derby Road and Newton West suburb.
Even with the “low density” designation, 40 percent of the building land is reserved for flats and cluster housing stands in line with the Government’s thrust on emerging settlements.
The set policy guidelines demand that at least 40 percent of new housing projects should be reserved for the construction of high-rise buildings to curb the unrestricted spread of settlements and promote modern housing infrastructure.
According to the latest council monthly report tabled before a full council yesterday, the director of town planning, Mr Wisdom Siziba, said the proposed residential layout on B2 of Bellevue sought to provide lower-density residential stands to cater for residents who require bigger stands, although the standard size of the 509 housing stands is 1 000 square metres, the stands being laid out as 12mx40m rectangles.
Mr Siziba said the demand for residential stands was increasing daily as evidenced by the council waiting list, which now was fast approaching 200 000.
“The proposed residential development plan will go a long way in eradicating the housing shortages in the city. Cities must create human settlements where people would live, work and play and all these were incorporated in the layout,” he said.
“The major goal when coming up with this layout was to fulfil the sustainability mandate of creating human settlements that were safe, inclusive, and liveable.”
Based on the proposed outlay, the area has 14 stands to accommodate flats or town houses, one site for both primary and secondary school construction, three stands for community facilities, one commercial stand, and six open spaces sites.
Already there is an existing hotel site that was developed and fully operational known as Derby Hotel.
“One commercial centre site had been proposed to cater to the needs of the community. This would be adequate since there was an existing shopping centre in Bellevue as well,” said Mr Siziba.
On proposed new infrastructure, the area would be connected to the existing water lines in the area. The neighbouring suburbs of Bellevue and Newton West already have water connections. The sewerage reticulation of the area would be connected to the proposed outfall sewer.
On electricity, Mr Siziba said it is the responsibility of Zesa, and would be relatively affordable, as it already exists in nearby suburbs such as Bellevue and Newton West and also there was an existing underground and overhead cable traversing the area from the Zesa substations from in and around the proposed development.
Council has since resolved to adopt the layout plan and submit it to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works for approval in terms of Section 205 of the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15).
In his 2022 annual New Year message, city mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni highlighted that last year, the local authority allocated a total of 498 stands, with those allocated to individuals under a scheme in Pumula South totalling 117.
A total of 1 680 stands were allocated to private developers for servicing and are yet to be allocated to the eventual owners, since they must first be serviced.
Giving an update on other housing projects in the city, Mr Siziba said layout plans for Highmount Phase 2 cater for 350 low-density stands and 840 stands in Killarney East low-density have been forwarded to the ministry for approval.
Zimbabwe has a national housing backlog of around 1,5 million houses and access to affordable and decent accommodation is a critical component of the Government’s vision to create an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
Under the National Development Strategy 1, which spans 2021-2025, the housing delivery pillar is expected to deliver 220 000 housing units by 2025 through collective efforts from stakeholders, and all parties involved in human settlements.
Demand for housing has risen over the years in tandem with population growth, and in a bid to accelerate the provision of housing, the Government has adopted several strategies to ensure access to housing by the majority of citizens.
These include the construction of new smart cities around major towns and cities with pilot projects targeted at Figtree, Melfort, and Chirundu.
Already, the transformation of Figtree settlement into a smart city is taking shape with technical teams working with Bulilima Rural District Council as the Government moves to fully implement the smart cities concept in line with the recently launched climate policy.
Online Reporter