daniel chigunwe
Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
Owners of at least 5 000 of the 9 000 residential stands in Southlea Park, Harare South, have had their details submitted to the Surveyor General to have dispensation certificates processed in preparation for the issuance of title deeds under the Presidential Title Deeds Programme.
Order Housing Consortium, comprising 56 companies from both the public and private sectors, which administers Southlea Park settlement, has since intensified mobilising residents to come forward and register for the Presidential Title Deeds National Programme.
The Government intends to issue 1,5 million title deeds countrywide by the end of this year, as it seeks to fulfil its national objectives on housing provision, as part of attainment of an upper middle class income economy by 2030.
Southlea Park is one of the settlements earmarked to get title deeds and the area, together with nearby settlements that include Fidelity Southview Park and Ushehwekunze Housing Cooperative, are set to have joint bulk water and sewage reticulation done by the Government, through financial institutions, in a development set to transform the area into a prime settlement.
Already Harare City Council has since designated Southlea Park as a district office to allow stand owners to be registered in the local authority data base, in preparation for issuing of title deeds through the Government’s Kwangu Trust, which is set to issue new securitised tittle deeds.
Consortium chairperson Mr Ben Matenga said they were excited by the development and were working closely with relevant Government ministries and departments and the City of Harare.
He said the issuing of title deeds will ultimately make their projects bankable and they would then be able to approach financial institutions for financial assistance.
“It’s not just attainment of title deeds, but developing onsite and offsite infrastructure and public amenities, so the Government is coming in to ensure that people have title deeds so that our project becomes bankable. Without that security, it becomes difficult to give guarantee to a developer or to whoever wants to put money in the project.
“Once we have title, we can now securitise the project to ensure that we look for money and all that can be done with the beneficiaries and the Government, which we are working closely with.” said Mr Matenga.
Consortium secretary Mrs Lina Madzinga said they had processed documents for 5 000 stand owners in the area and submitted the details to the Surveyor General.
“We are busy mobilising our membership to come forward and register in our data base and give us updated information. There are people who had registered their children but the children are now adults; some stand owners might now be deceased; there are those who might have divorced, while others might have relocated to other areas, so we are tracing all those people to furnish us with latest information,” said Mrs Madzinga.
“We are also working with our technocrats, our consulting engineers, who are finalising the master plan and the designs for water and sewer reticulation. There are also issues of compliance, particularly with Environmental Management Agency; but we are indeed compliant with its requirements. We are now waiting for offsite services and we are working closely with the Government and we have held several meetings and we are quite happy with the Presidential Title Deeds Programme.”
She said issuing title would bring confidence among residents.
Last year Government issued title deeds to residents in Epworth and nearby Glenwood at a colourful ceremony presided over by President Mnangagwa.
Other areas earmarked for the programme include Chitungwiza, Gimboki in Mutare and Cowdry Park in Bulawayo.
The programme is set to benefit all informal settlements that are targeted to be regularised, all long-standing municipality tenants, beneficiaries of Government enabled housing under the Ministry of Housing and Social Amenities and rural business growth points.
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