The Sunday Mail
Zimbabwe is on course to surpassing its target of developing 225 000 housing units by 2025 through a combination of public and private investments.
Government has now set a new target of facilitating the development of more than one million housing units by 2030.
The Sunday Mail’s TANYARADZWA RUSIKE (TR) spoke to National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Daniel Garwe (DG) on developments in the housing development sub-sector this year.
TR: Can you outline how much progress Government has made in implementing its housing development programme this year?
DG: When we talk about housing development, we cannot single out a year because, in most cases, the projects are overlapping.
What started in 2019, when this ministry was created, is now coming to fruition this year.
The first thing the President instructed us to do in terms of housing delivery was to develop a policy – the Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy – which he later pronounced in November 2020.
The policy posits there should be access to land and security of tenure.
It adds that there should be onsite and offsite infrastructure provision by every developer, including Government, local authorities and private developers before any superstructure is developed.
The policy also says we must now embrace densification, that is, construction of flats.
In addition, all human settlements must be regularised.
We are moving away from the thinking that Government will come and demolish people’s houses.
Government is presently not demolishing any houses, but, obviously, there is a cut-off point that was put in place in November 2020, when the policy was pronounced.
Any settlements that mushroomed thereafter will be demolished.
Within the same policy, we looked at our rural communities and said we must bring development to these areas under the rural transformation programme.
We must ensure that the same quality of houses being built in urban areas are also developed in rural communities, and we are doing that in all our rural district centres.
We have started with Uzumba-Maramba -Pfungwe, where we have started developing about five blocks of flats.
We also said our rural communities are served by archaic technology, that is, the use of pit latrines and blair toilets.
So, we are replacing that with a new rural waste management system, which ensures that all households replace pit latrines with flushable toilet systems.
We have started doing this programme at 17 rural schools around all the 10 provinces.
Government has also put in the National Budget funds to deliver flushable toilet systems at all rural schools, clinics and hospitals.
TR: How many housing units were developed by private contractors this year?
DG: In terms of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1), we had a target of delivering 220 000 housing units by 2025.
But I want to commend and thank our private sector for the positive response it has shown to the policy as enunciated by His Excellency, the President.
Our private sector, using both traditional and modern technology, has upped the game and delivered 156 000 units.
Government is working on the balance, and we are saying, at this rate of delivery, why not revise our figures from 220 000 units by 2025 to 470 000 by 2025.
TR: How much progress have you made towards addressing the national housing backlog?
DG: Government is committed to delivering housing; we are funding the development of high-rise flats in every city and town.
In Dzivaresekwa, we are building about 48 blocks of flats.
We are also doing the same in Marondera, and Senga in Gweru.
We now want to provide 470 000 housing units by 2025 and about a million houses by 2030.
We have concluded that we will not be able to meet that target if we put all of our focus on developing traditional brick-and-mortar structures.
We are now migrating to the use of new technologies that ensure fast delivery of houses at affordable prices, and housing that is also sustainable in light of climate change.
In doing so, we have taken cognisance of the impact of climate change to our environment, and we are focusing on green technology.
TR: What progress has been made so far on the development of smart cities?
DG: We are also working on the development of smart cities, where we have endeavoured to move with time and adopt strategies that conform to the dictates of the digitalised world and globalisation.
In light of this, plans to develop smart cities are at an advanced stage.
These are completely new cities that will be anchored in digitalisation and green energy, where people “live, work and play”.
The idea is to develop compact areas with a view to promoting cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to citizens, a clean and sustainable environment, and the application of information and communications technology-based solutions.
The ministry has put requisite modalities in place and now awaits the transfer of land from the relevant authorities to kick-start these projects in Melfort, Figtree and Chirundu.
TR: How much was released this year by Shelter Afrique to fund housing projects?
DG: Shelter Afrique has been funding housing development in the country in various ways.
It is funding development through financial institutions, which means our banks and building societies are accessing the funds.
The Government is also accessing funding from Shelter Afrique, and what the Government is accessing for national housing is to the tune of US$25 million.
The private sector has accessed in excess of US$60 million, and I understand there are more applications that have gone to Shelter Afrique, which amount to US$30 million from various developers, in addition to the US$60 million.
TR: NDS 1 provides that focus will also be on upgrading informal settlements. How much progress have you made in this regard?
DG: As our town and cities grow through development of new settlements, the Government is also seized with the regularisation and sanitisation of informal settlements.
The Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy is guiding these projects, and we are making progress in this regard.
The planning process took us about two years to carry out studies on how the people were settled. To date, we have completed the planning process, and in the next phase, we are looking at how to fund regularisation through Treasury and some programmes being undertaken through private sector initiatives.
