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Blessings Chidakwa-Municipal Reporter
The use of new technology is expected to considerably aid the delivery of low-cost houses as envisaged by the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), the Government has said.
The Government plans to deliver 470 000 houses and flats by 2030, in line with the vision of creating an empowered upper middle income society.
In an interview on Tuesday, National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Daniel Garwe said Government has floated tenders and the response from a lot of both local and foreign companies was positive.
“The firms are now going through adjudication and by the end of September, we will have shortlisted those that qualify so that by 2022, we start the actual construction. We are on target.
“The target that the Government has set in terms of the National Development Strategy 1 is to deliver 220 000 units by year 2025 then take that up to 470 000 units by year 2030.
“Those are the targets that we are working on. This is very possible by way of applying new technologies in housing delivery,” he said.
Minister Garwe said the technologies that have since been adopted in other countries were very cost effective.
“A company that is applying technology can produce 100 blocks of flats in a month, 100 blocks of flats of 16 units each which means in a month it builds 1 600.
“In 10 months, we will have delivered 160 000 units. By the time we reach 2025, we will have surpassed the target of 220 000 units but we are now working towards bringing those technologies into Zimbabwe,” he said.
Minister Garwe said the Government had a clear vision of building houses and flats across the country and to ensure that the growing new towns in rural areas had proper housing for the workers in the new industries being encouraged in those areas.
“For example, Murehwa is an agro-based district so we are talking to investors who would want to come and invest in the establishment of processing plants for tomato canning and vegetable drying and processing so that they create both domestic and export markets.
“We are also talking to the biggest retailers that we have in the country including OK, Spar and Pick n Pay to attract them to come and invest in these areas,” he said.
Minister Garwe said the Government had also taken a deliberate position to complete stalled projects throughout the 10 provinces of the country.
He said another target was the regeneration of old settlements in urban areas that were run down or were designed in colonial days using exceptionally low standards that are no longer acceptable. Among these are Musana Wenzou in Kadoma, Matapi in Mbare, Makokoba in Bulawayo and Mtapa in Gweru.
“These are settlements created in the colonial era for blue collar jobs. During the colonial period, blacks in Rhodesia were treated as sub-human.
“These are the wrongs President Mnangagwa is now correcting by providing decent and affordable accommodation for all Zimbabweans,” he said.
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