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Tanyaradzwa Rusike in Victoria Falls
THE Government has called upon the private sector to partner in the national housing projects in order to address the soaring demand of accommodation in the country.
This was said by Vice President Costantino Chiwenga at the 41st official opening of the Shelter Afrique yesterday in Victoria Falls.
The conference which running under the theme, “Climate Change and the Built Environment” seeks to deliberate on housing issues and address looming challenges to the built environment occasioned by climate change.
Vice President Chiwenga said there is need to work with private sector in order to clear housing backlog.
“Central governments alone will not solve the soaring demand for housing, especially in our urban areas. In the rural areas, it is not about homelessness, but-about the quality of housing and basic social amenities that is of concern.
“ Consequently, housing delivery requires concerted efforts from the private sector, civic society organisations, community based organisations, individual beneficiaries and multilateral agencies such as Shelter Afrique amongst an array of others,” he said.
“Let us embrace multiplicity of players and approaches in our endeavour to reduce the housing backlog in Africa.”
He said mortgages are elitist and beyond of many ordinary citizens because of collateral demanded by financial institutions.
“As central governments our inclination should be focused on protecting the interests of the majority, who are the underprivileged.
“I, therefore, would like to challenge the delegates here, as you deliberate on these and related issues during the week, to explore practical alternatives to address the challenge before us, that is, access to affordable housing finance by the general public in our respective countries.”
National Housing and Social Amenities, Munister Daniel Garwe said there is need to come up with sustainable ways of financing housing projects.
“According to the Shelter Afrique research arm, Centre of Excellence, the overall shortage of housing in Africa is estimated to be 56 million housing units. While we have this scenario, the reality is that there is a huge gap between housing needs and the available financial resources to close the gap.
“This area is worth exploring as we work towards inclusive and sustainable development within the context of Agenda 2063,” said Minister Garwe
“We may need to consider coming up with ways of creating a conducive environment which builds a case to invest in our various projects cognisant of the fact that housing and infrastructure provision are by nature capital intensive and most governments struggle to obtain adequate funding for infrastructure provision.”
Online Reporter