CBZ $12m housing project 85pc complete

SERVICING of roads and sewer infrastructure under the CBZ Holdings $12 million housing project in Victoria Falls is 85 percent complete and beneficiaries are likely to be allocated fully serviced stands next month.

Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube said this after a joint tour of the site with the bank representatives and engineers last week. Mr Dube said the municipality was happy with the progress.

“We had a site visit and we noticed roads have been made while the water system has been connected and what’s left is connecting sewer to the existing system.

“All in all the project is 85 percent complete and we are happy as council with progress made so far taking cognisance of the fact that some works were disturbed by the rains.

“What we are getting is that they will be done by April and fully serviced stands will then be allocated,” said Mr Dube.

He said the site visit was only for stakeholders to appreciate progress in the project, which will see close to 1 174 beneficiaries getting housing stands as part of council efforts to complement Government’s efforts to provide houses to low income earners.

Of these about 1 008 will be high density and the remaining 166 stands being medium density housing in line with the financial institution’s strategy to deliver low cost housing.

Councillors had earlier in the week, during a full council meeting, demanded a progress report showing beneficiaries of the scheme but Mr Dube said selection was being done by the bank, which was yet to furnish the local authority with such details.

He said being on the council waiting list was not a privilege but a process of being in a queue for allocation of a housing stand.

CBZ Holdings was represented by head group projects and estates manager Engineer O Sawadya.

Briefing the touring delegation, project engineers said the past two months had been a challenge due to excessive rainfall while they needed sunlight conditions to tar roads.

The engineers said this contributed to missing of the February deadline.

The housing project covers the Buffer Zone between Mkhosana and Chinotimba suburbs as well as along Victoria FallsKazungula Road and south of Mkhosana. The road network in the project covered 15km combined.

CBZ, which was recently engaged by Government to build student and staff accommodation at tertiary institutions, has channelled $70 million towards various low, medium and high density housing schemes as a private developer or in conjunction with municipalities across Zimbabwe.

CBZ developed more than 1 000 stands in Gweru and also serviced residential stands in the Grange in Harare, Chikanga in Mutare, Mbizo in Kwekwe, while similar plans are underway in Bulawayo and Marondera as the bank seeks to contribute to housing delivery as espoused in the country’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset.

The national housing backlog is more than 1,2 million. The housing waiting list in Victoria Falls currently stands at 15 000. — @ncubeleon