FIDELITY Life Assurance has launched a $20 million housing project that will see the development of close to 6 000 low income houses in South View Park,Harare.
Report by Victoria Mtomba
The new suburb will be developed on a 323 hectare piece of land along the Harare-Masvingo highway.
A police station, six primary schools, two secondary schools, six crèches,14 flats, two commercial stands, an open space and five churches would also be developed to accompany the housing units.
Fidelity Life Assurance managing director Simon Chapereka said there had not been any major development in low cost housing projects since 2000 and this would be the first in the country.
Initially, the company had earmarked the area for low density development.
“This area is now for high density development. We are awaiting approval of the amended plan from the City of Harare.
“Once the amendment is approved, we will float tenders,” he said. Chapereka said the servicing of the stands will take about 15-18 months to complete.
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He said the stands were targeted at first time house owners and pension contributors.
In a bid to attract buyers, Chapereka said potential buyers would be required to pay a deposit and the remainder would be paid in installments over a five-year period.
Turning to the developments at Manresa where the company launched a 317 phase 1 housing development,Chapereka said only 30 stands were not yet taken up. The group posted a bottom line of $6,7 million for the first five months of its reporting period, while premium income was $5,4 million.
The group said it was expecting to have an increase in its bottomline of 25% for this year, but could not give more information as Fidelity is in a closed period. A total fee income of $1,2 million was recorded for the first five months of the year and the total income for the period increased by 27% to $6,6 million from $5,2 million recorded last year.
