THE Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) has handed over the $2 million Marimba housing project to one of its contractors, Masimba Holdings.
BY TARISAI MANDIZHA
Masimba is expected to begin development of the project this month with the exercise completed in four months, IDBZ assistant director corporate banking unit Reginald Dangarembwa said on Tuesday.
“We are basically doing a site handover to one of the contractors who are Masimba Holdings, who are responsible for the servicing of the land.
What we have agreed today is that with immediate effect they will start bringing the equipment to the site and once the equipment is here (they) will start works on the ground, which is the sewer works,” he said.
“Masimba is commencing this month of May and we presume, according to the meeting with them, they will be through with servicing in a period of three to four months. Thereafter, when we have the plans approved by the Harare City Council, then people can start building structures.”
The project is made up of 340 residential stands. Of that, 202 measure 300sqm each with the remainder (138) measuring 510sqm each.
He said the stand numbers were divided into two areas, the 500 square metres and the 300 square metres and in total there were 340 residential stands. Dangarembwa said all the residential stands in the Marimba housing project were sold out. He said the project was delayed as some residents had put their maize crop on the land and IDBZ had to wait until they had finished harvesting.
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Last year, IDBZ launched the Homesavers account to mobilise resources to roll out housing projects in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kadoma, Mutare, Chinhoyi, Kwekwe, Masvingo, Bindura and other urban centres.
The bank said it would deliver 30 000 units that include flats, houses and serviced stands by 2018 with an annual target of 5 000 units.
Under the National Housing Delivery Programme (2014 to 2018), government promised to deliver 313 368 fully constructed housing units or serviced stands, with the beneficiary being the main contributor, and government providing land and bulk infrastructure services.
In his 2016 National Budget statement, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said government was going to partner contractors and building societies to put up infrastructure such as roads, water, social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, clinics, sporting facilities and sewage systems.
The country has a housing backlog of 1,25 million units.
Chinamasa said government was exploring the formulation of a policy to transfer all undeveloped urban State land onto the balance sheet of the Urban Development Corporation in order for it to leverage its balance sheet for the mobilisation of resources required for servicing land for housing and industrial infrastructure development.
