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Local govt seeks housing partnership with BCC

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THE Local Government ministry has sought a partnership deal with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to construct residential flats at the sprawling Cowdray Park and Emganwini high-density suburbs to ease the city’s housing backlog.

THE Local Government ministry has sought a partnership deal with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to construct residential flats at the sprawling Cowdray Park and Emganwini high-density suburbs to ease the city’s housing backlog.

By NQOBANI NDLOVU

The BCC battles a housing backlog estimated at over 100 000, according to the local authority.

Latest council minutes of the general purposes committee report reveal that the Local Government ministry wrote recently to the BCC requesting for a partnership deal to construct residential flats, adding it will facilitate all finances for the housing project.

“As a follow up to our initial correspondence with the above captioned matter dated May 31, 2017. The proposed development strategy when implementing the scheme is through joint ventures where the Ministry facilitates or sources finance for the infrastructure, the Local Authority may, in this case, provide the land for the construction of the flats.

“Another option could be the Local authority partnering directly with financier towards construction of the flats. Similar cases in point in which the above strategy has been implemented are Iminyela Flats or the Entumbane cluster houses where the government provided the finance to construct the flats/houses on council land…,” the letter by the Local Government ministry’s Public Works and National Housing Department dated June 14, 2017 to the council read.

According to the minutes, after debate the city fathers resolved to partner the Local Government ministry in the housing initiative. Council also resolved to form an interdepartmental committee to engage the ministry in the housing project.

“Following this proposal my (engineering department director, Simela Dube) department, therefore, sought permission to form an interdepartmental committee that would engage the Ministry towards a mutually beneficial partnership towards housing delivery,” the minutes read.

“Therefore, it was resolved to recommend (i) that an interdepartmental Committee be set up to establish the best possible partnership agreement between Council and he ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing towards the construction of Flats on stand 21302 Cowdray Park and stand 2977 Emganwini. (ii) That the allocation of stands 21302 Cowdray Park and stand 2977 Emganwini to the partnership be approved in principle.”