GWERU City Council is set to allocate more than 2 600 residential and commercial stands to people who are on its housing waiting list as the local authority steps up efforts to reduce the housing backlog in the city.
The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works approved the allocation of 84 commercial stands at the proposed new site of the city centre and in suburbs such as Mambo South and Mkoba 20 extension.
Presently, the council housing waiting list stands at 38 000 and efforts are underway to identify suitable land to address the demand.
The Second Republic has been partnering private players and local authorities to address housing challenges.
Gweru Mayor Councillor Hamutendi Kombayi said the local authority is determined to address the housing shortages by availing stands.
“Council is set to allocate more than 2 600 serviced residential and commercial stands in different suburbs to potential homeowners who are on our housing waiting list in a move that is aimed at reducing the council housing waiting list,” said Clr Kombayi.
He said the new city centre will be located between the Fairmile Motel and the Midlands Private Hospital, covering the area around Gweru Sports Club.
“The new city centre will see new developments such as High Court, transport interchange, up-market malls, office park among other developments coming up,” said Clr Kombayi.
He said land for the relocation of the Gymkhana sporting facilities has since been approved by the ministry.
“The next step is developing and capacitating the sports grounds relocation site into a state-of-the-art establishment. The servicing of the Mkoba 21 housing scheme is also underway where 1 784 beneficiaries purchased residential stands in 2014,” Clr Kombayi.
“Council contracted three land developers to provide services on this scheme. The three service providers are Sheasham Investments, Wackdrive and Casas.”
Clr Kombayi said demand for housing in the city has remained on an upward trend despite the limited availability of new residential schemes.
Sheasham and Investments and Wackdrive are on the ground and works have since commenced.
“Casas is still awaiting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) certificate for them to start work. Issuing of agreement of sale forms to beneficiaries will commence once we get site plans from the surveyor general, and our surveyors are pushing for that,” said Clr Kombayi.
He said there are also three projects that have been approved by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works that will open up more stands for home seekers.
Clr Kombayi said the ministry has approved the Mkoba 20 extension high-density residential layout.
“There will be 160 stands that will be opened up for allocation to residents. We also have the Gwapa mixed-density residential layout plan next to the Clifton Park area that was also approved by the ministry and it will have 391 stands,” said he said.
Clr Kombayi said 206 residential stands will be allocated to residents following the approval of the Mambo South medium-density residential layout plan.
He said council also created sites for 78 liquefied petroleum gas kiosks.
“The sites have since been approved by the council. These are meant to respond to the growing demand for gas and the need for an alternative energy source in the wake of incessant power outages,” said Clr Kombayi.
He said the city is also receiving a considerable number of applications from private players for the subdivision of land.
The mayor said the city has processed five subdivision applications which will significantly contribute towards addressing the housing backlog.
“Council in 2022 processed 27 change of use applications which include pre-schools, colleges, clinics, cluster houses, funeral parlous and guest houses among others. These applications are granted on the basis that they are a necessity in those respective areas,” he said.
“The processes are done with particular consideration to the need to ensure order, amenity, convenience and the general welfare of the residents.”
Clr Kombayi said about 72 percent of Gweru road network is gravel.
“Of the 426km of surfaced road network in Gweru, about 30 percent is trafficable and the rest is in need of shoulder filling, tar pothole patching and resurfacing. We managed to cover 13 985 square metres of tar pothole patching, 8 936 square metres were gravel patched,” he said.
Clr Kombayi said the local authority managed to de-silt 40,1km of drains and did carriageway markings covering 1,7km of the road network.
“However, we have a range of challenges. We have frequent breakdowns of key equipment which reduces productivity, more so two graders are still down. We are faced with fuel challenges which affect our roadwork,” he said.
Clr Kombayi said last year they managed to install 40 tower lights with more set to be installed in the residential areas this year. – The Chronicle
