Greenlight for 21 land developers

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT has issued permits to 21 private land developers to start servicing 8 500 stands in Upper and Lower Rangemore on the outskirts of Bulawayo while 23 more are being finalised in line with the national policy to provide decent accommodation for all.

The process to set up a committee to develop the stands in the two areas is already underway while the 23 additional permits are expected to enable provision of 7 200 housing stands in the short to medium term.

Demand for housing continues to increase countrywide and cities such as Bulawayo have more than 125 000 residents on the housing waiting list.

While Lower and Upper Rangemore fall under Umguza Rural District, Bulawayo’s Master Plan incorporates the areas under its territory and these will be connected to Bulawayo’s existing infrastructure.

The development of housing stands in Upper and Lower Rangemore is expected to benefit home seekers in Bulawayo who are struggling to get housing due to limited land for city expansion.

The allocation of private permits is in line with Government’s National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1)’s focus on public private partnerships (PPPs) whose aim is to build 220 000 housing units by 2025.

PPPs are perceived as one of the ways of fulfilling this critical target and go a long way towards easing the burden on Government in terms of clearing the national housing backlog that has surpassed a million.

Local Government and Public Works Deputy Minister Marian Chombo announced the Lower and Upper Rangemore housing initiative before legislators in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

“Upper and Lower Rangemore is made up of 206 privately owned plots with title and two Government owned plots viz Stand 6 of Lot G Upper Rangemore and the remainder of Lot 27A Lower Rangemore. The area measures approximately 3 283 hectares in extent,” she said. “There are 21 developers who have been granted permits, proposing 8 532 stands covering 685 604 hectares of land whereas 23 applications for permits, proposing 7 292 stands covering 515 664 hectares are pending in the Upper and Lower Rangemore area.”

Deputy Minister Chombo said the Government had stopped issuance of land subdivision permits to private developers as it wanted to ensure that there are solid financial commitments.

She, however, said development permits will be granted to developers who will be connected to Bulawayo City Council’s infrastructure.

“My ministry has, however, resuscitated the issuance of permits to those properties that can be connected to Bulawayo City Council’s existing infrastructure,” said Deputy Minister Chombo.

“The approval shall be done in liaison with Bulawayo City Council. Meanwhile, the ministry is in the process of setting up a joint management committee to spearhead development in the area.

Upper and Lower Rangemore also lie within Bulawayo’s masterplan and is in the borderline areas of Emganwini and Nkulumane suburbs.

The Bulawayo City Council is already taking advantage of the ongoing Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) delimitation exercise to lobby Government to expand its borders.

In a report, BCC said it is already in negotiations with the Umguza Rural District Council (RDC) over incorporation of some of the areas that fall under the latter to Bulawayo.

“Currently two meetings had been held with Umguza RDC on the issues of incorporation. There was a committee, which comprised of financial directors and valuation officers from both local authorities that was tasked with dealing with compensation issues,” reads part of the council report.

“The Town Clerk advised that Statutory Instrument 212 of 1999 had been considered in the administrative boundaries. Incorporation was in two-fold, which included voluntary incorporation by Presidential proclamation. The Presidential Proclamation or the Master Plan approach could also be used.”

According to the report, there are several settlements that want to be voluntarily incorporated into Bulawayo.

“There are issues of compensation involved, which were being worked out accordingly. Bulawayo City Council was a major stakeholder in most of the developments next to the city,” it said.

“Council was expected to provide most of the services. Agreements had been reached to connect council water to Mbundane but the infrastructure was not up to standard.”

Emthunzini suburb had also applied but at the time there was an illegal settlement, which needed to be regularised. “The process had been completed and considerations to provide services were underway. All these areas were included in the Master Plan,” read the report.

Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Development Minister Richard Moyo said provision of development permits private players shows that Government is alive to accommodation challenges facing the public.

“We have a lot of people who are home seekers and are searching for accommodation. So, the granting of development permits to these private developers in partnership with Government will in turn ease the accommodation challenges for members of the public,” said Minister Moyo.

He said construction projects also have socio-economic benefits for members of the public as the development of the housing stands will create employment for locals.

Minister Moyo said this can be an opportunity for players in the construction sector to benefit from downstream industries. — @nqotshili

Article Source: The Chronicle