THE National Building Society (NBS) is set to construct more than 14 600 low cost houses in Bulawayo and Harare, as part of its efforts to reduce the country’s over 1,25 million housing backlog, an official has said.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
NBS, which is owned by the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and was licensed in April 2016, offers the mortgage facility with an interest rate of between 9,5% to 11,5% per annum.
In his second quarter statement, NSSA board chairman, Robin Vela revealed that they were currently in discussions with Bulawayo and Harare city councils over the low cost housing project.
Vela said a new low-cost housing project was launched in April 2017 in Chinhoyi, with the first phase involving the construction of 723 housing units.
“Similar projects are being mooted in all major towns, with NSSA engaged in off-take discussions, at an advanced stage, for developments in Derbyshire, Harare (1 010 units), Caledonia, Harare (8 000 units), Emganwini, Bulawayo (800 units), and National University of Science and Technology area student accommodation (4 800 units),” he said.
Vela said a new branch was opened in April 2017 in Chinhoyi and will be followed by one in Gweru sometime this month.
Plans are underway to open branches in Mutare and Masvingo, which should take the total number of branches to five, while the number of NBS banking agencies stands at 18, he said.
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Vela said in April 2017, NBS broke even for the first time since inception in May 2016.
“It is our hope that the building society will maintain this momentum,” he said.
Vela said the NBS board was determined to examine the building society’s procurement and operational aspects without interference and to this end, the institution’s managing director and executive in charge of information technology, were placed on special leave for three months.
During this period, Lameck Danga, will act as the NBS managing director.
