Harare fails to deliver stands

LACK of access to funds and the absence of a ring-fenced account for servicing of stands is hampering the delivery of residential stands by Harare City Council.

Councils’ land value addition team relies on common city accounts where other projects and liabilities compete for funds.

The city recently appointed a land value addition team comprising members from the Department of Housing and Social Development, Department of Works and Finance Department to do infrastructural servicing on land for residential purposes in the shortest possible time.

The terms of reference for the team were to make an impact in housing delivery by doing infrastructural servicing on land for residential purposes in the shortest possible time.

Council failed to service land for the past 20 years citing economic challenges and had abrogated that mandate to housing cooperatives.

According to the recent minutes of the Health, Housing and Community Servicing and Licensing Committee the team is failing to carry out its mandate owing to shortage of funds.

Acting Housing and Social Development director Rtd Major Matthew Marara reported the committee approved the appointment of a land value addition team but it did not have a ring fenced account and was competing for resources with other departments.

“The team was given St Martins as the first project to manage where 30 stands were allocated to council employees but there was not much that had happened on the project site apart from road clearance and preparation rock blasting.”

“The committee noted that the lead department on the infrastructure provi- sion was the Department of Works. The major setback for progress onsite was accessing funds for implementation of requisite works. The project did not have a ring fenced account from which to draw funds for the project,” reads the minutes.

It was hoped funding would be provided from a ring fenced account for easy access.

The ring fenced account would receive contributions directly from the beneficiaries but the team did not have such an account.

Harare has since conceded it was unable to deliver 105 000 housing units by 2018 as stipulated by Zim-Asset.