Online Reporter
Gibson Mhaka, [email protected]
INADEQUATE funding remains the biggest impediment to completing servicing works at Cowdray Park Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai housing scheme in Bulawayo, despite major progress in water infrastructure and renewed optimism brought by the Government-backed Kwangu/Ngakwami Presidential Title Deeds Programme.
This emerged when the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government, Public Works and National
Housing visited Bulawayo at the weekend on a fact-finding mission to assess informal and dysfunctional settlements as well as Government housing projects.
Led by committee chairperson and Mazowe Central legislator Dr Maxmore Njanji, the committee toured the Cowdray Park Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai housing scheme, Richmond Landfill Site informal settlement, Burombo Flats and Iminyela suburb, where municipal officials outlined the city’s housing challenges, infrastructure deficits and service delivery initiatives.
The nationwide exercise forms part of Parliament’s constitutional oversight role and is expected to inform recommendations on strengthening Government housing policies, improving service delivery and advancing Vision 2030 through sustainable human settlements.
Presenting to the committee at Cowdray Park, Bulawayo City Council (BCC) acting director of works and project manager for the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai servicing project, Engineer Methusi Dibidi, said Cowdray Park should not be viewed as a dysfunctional settlement but as a planned residential area whose principal challenge is incomplete servicing.
“Cowdray Park is not a dysfunctional settlement. It has planned layouts approved by the Minister; it is properly surveyed and what is missing are services. A dysfunctional settlement is one where people build houses haphazardly without planning. That is not the case in Cowdray Park. We do not have land barons in Cowdray Park or in Bulawayo,” he said.
Covering about 867 hectares and home to an estimated 75 000 residents, Cowdray Park is Bulawayo’s largest residential suburb.
Eng Dibidi said the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai housing scheme was transferred to the city council by the then Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Dr Ignatius Chombo, in 2012 as a self-financing project. Beneficiaries were initially expected to contribute US$50 per month per stand, before the amount was later reduced to US$15.
He said the project has since stalled because residents’ contributions virtually stopped after 2019.
“The main challenge in Cowdray Park is funding. This is a self-funding scheme and after 2019, residents’ contributions virtually ceased. As a result, there is no work taking place on the ground because of a lack of funding,” he said.
When the project commenced in 2012, the estimated cost of providing essential infrastructure — including water, sewer reticulation, roads, stormwater drainage and public lighting — stood at US$46 million.
Through residents’ contributions, grants and donations, council has mobilised about US$12,655 million, enabling significant progress in some critical areas.
Eng Dibidi said water infrastructure is now 98 percent complete, sewer reticulation stands at 33 percent, while road construction is only four percent complete.
“The implication is that some households still rely on Blair toilets because sewer reticulation has not reached them, while poor road infrastructure makes it difficult for refuse collection vehicles and emergency services to access certain sections of the suburb,” he said.
Following revised engineering designs, the cost of completing the remaining infrastructure has risen to about US$38,94 million.
Eng Dibidi welcomed Government’s intervention through the Kwangu/Ngakwami Presidential Title Deeds Programme, saying it offers fresh hope of unlocking funding to complete the outstanding works.
“Council resolved last year to embrace this intervention. We have been engaging the organisation and they have been consulting residents. They have since submitted detailed designs, which we have approved in principle. Only minor issues remain before implementation begins,” he said.
Municipal officials told legislators that while parts of the suburb still lack adequate sewer and road infrastructure, the city has already achieved full water coverage and completed major outfall sewer infrastructure.
They said the Presidential Title Deeds Programme presents an opportunity to mobilise investment needed to complete roads, sewer reticulation and other essential services, transforming one of Bulawayo’s fastest-growing suburbs into a fully serviced residential area.
Dr Njanji said the committee’s visit was part of Parliament’s constitutional responsibility to ensure Government programmes are implemented efficiently and that public institutions remain accountable.
“This oversight visit is being undertaken in fulfilment of Parliament’s constitutional mandate to ensure Government programmes are implemented efficiently, effectively and transparently,” said Dr Njanji.
“Section 119 of the Constitution obliges Parliament to ensure that all State institutions and agencies are accountable to the people of Zimbabwe, while Section 141 requires Parliament and its committees to facilitate public involvement in their processes,” he said.
“It is in fulfilment of this constitutional responsibility that the committee has embarked on this nationwide verification exercise.”
Dr Njanji said the committee was assessing the implementation of Government housing programmes under the Zimbabwe Human Settlements Policy, the Regularisation and Sanitisation Programme and other urban renewal initiatives, while identifying policy, financial and operational constraints affecting delivery.
The parliamentary inquiry is expected to culminate in a report recommending policy reforms, financing mechanisms and interventions to accelerate housing delivery and the regularisation of settlements across the country.
