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Stakeholders in the housing sector have formed a consortium to deliver at least one million housing units and residential stands in the next four years, as part of achieving Zim-Asset provisions.
Called Zim-Build, the partnership would be made up of housing associations, building contractors, material suppliers and financial institutions.
Operating under the slogan “Zim-Asset – Yes I will do my part”, the partnership would engage lawyers for due diligence before home-seekers can be allocated land.
The programme, being spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Amalgamated Housing Association (Zaha), will also introduce a culture of saving by Zimbabweans towards acquiring residential places.
Speaking at an event to announce the programme yesterday that was attended by various stakeholders, Zaha director general Dr Killer Zivhu said the partnership would help co-ordinate housing delivery by the private sector and complement Government efforts.
“For this Zim-Build programme, we are going to campaign in each of the 10 provinces so that people open fixed bank accounts for the purposes of saving in readiness to acquire residential stands or houses,” he said.
“What makes this programme different from all others is that one will be in control of their funds in the fixed bank account. We will not ask people to bring their money to the offices. “
“While you are saving your money in the fixed bank account, the stakeholders in the partnership will be developing residential stands and in some cases housing units. We will only ask you to withdraw your money and buy a serviced stand or a complete structure.”
Dr Zivhu said the system will help reduce cases of land barons who have been fleecing home-seekers of their hard- earned cash.
He said Zim-Build would be officially launched in the near future at a site in Chitungwiza.
Zaha directors are due to visit Ireland where they will look at new housing technologies that can assist those in the project to reduce the costs of building.
“We want to see a better Zimbabwe by pooling our resources to together as stakeholders so that we can provide housing stands and housing units,” said Dr Zivhu.
“Government has mainly been concentrating on delivering housing in urban areas and growth points, but this programme will, in addition to those areas, also target rural areas and farms.”
Under Zim-Asset, Government is targeting 318 000 housing units by 2018 and efforts are being done to ensure the target is met.
Government has also been encouraging the private sector to providing houses and work with contractors to find ways of easing the burden.
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