eBusiness Weekly
Martin Kadzere
Housing Co-operation Zimbabwe (HCZ), a local consortium has started implementing a massive $300 million low cost housing project in Caledonian in eastern Harare. HCZ won the contract to build 8 000 houses on behalf of the National Social Security Authority last year. The project could be one of the biggest in recent years.
Phase one of the project involves the construction of standard 450-three bedroomed houses and HCZ has already completed 50 units while 175 are at different stages of construction, chief executive Stephen Duggan told Business Weekly during a site visit early this week.
“By October (this year) we will be producing 250 houses per month employing 1 500 people,” he added.
At maximum capacity — expected in October, the company will employ in excess of 1 500 people.
“Our designs and the structures of our housing units meet global standards,” said Duggan.
“The project will also be supported by proper infrastructure to support the families.”
He said 90 percent of the construction materials were being procured locally and only those unavailable on the domestic market such as reinforcement steel were being imported.
NSSA spokesperson Tendai Mutseyekwa said the housing units would benefit low income earners.
HCZ is employing cast in concrete method, the technology being widely used in Mozambique, South Africa and Mozambique. The houses are reinforced with concrete.
Using this fast track construction process, the company can deliver up to 400 units per month, which would be high difficult with traditional construction methods.
The technology is still labour dependent, meaning strong job opportunities. Using the technology, more than 500 000 houses are built in Latin America every year.
The project will go a long way in reducing Zimbabwe’s housing backlog. The country is faced with a significant backlog estimated at 1,3 million units, which translate to a national backlog of five million citizens or more than 40 percent of the population.
These housing problems are resulting from constrained formal housing finance and public capital funding streams.
Cognisant of the huge backlog, government has collaborated with various stakeholders including public sector entities, financial sector, and private developers through self-financing schemes as well as housing cooperatives to boost house production.
According to Real Estate Institute of Zimbabwe, the country needs an estimated 15 to 20 years to clear its national housing backlog, which has been ballooning in recent years, pushed by the increased rural to urban migration. It said the ballooning population in urban centres would continue putting pressure on the existing infrastructure.
