RYAN CHIGOCHE
Property development concern West Property handed over “premium lifestyle apartments” on Friday as it cements its thrust of delivering quality housing in Zimbabwe.
The construction of Block 2 of the Millennium Heights, which is situated behind Dandaro Village, took 12 months.
They consist of studios, one and two bed units and are fully serviced roads, LP reticulated gas, solar back-up power and water, 24-hour security and connected to fibre internet.
Speaking at the handover of the apartments, West Property’s CEO Ken Sharpe (pictured) said the property development concern was handing over “premium lifestyle apartments, a worthy investment with positive yields”.
“We are proud to have added value to this land which was not zoned when we took over. Block one already has happy tenants. You can see the trucks outside pouring concrete on Block 3 foundations that will have 112 units and soon all the remaining 8 blocks will be up totalling 1000 apartments. We want to go as high as we can,” Sharpe said.
Zimbabwe has a housing backlog of 2m. According to government statistics over 1.2m are on the waiting list.
Currently Zimbabwe is facing a national housing unit backlog which now stands at 2 million.
The event was graced by Housing and Social Amenities minister Daniel Garwe who lauded the private sector for helping to close the gap after providing 156,000 units in three years.
“The housing delivery pillar under the National Development Strategy 1 is expected to deliver 470 000 units by 2025.This is being achieved through initiatives such as collaboration between government and private sector investors and the use of new technologies that are cost effective and ensure speedy delivery of houses,” Garwe said.
“We are humbled with the participation of our private sector, West Property in particular. The contribution of the private sector from 2018 to date is 156 000. Our initial target was to produce 220 000 housing units by 2025 we have since revised those figures to 470 000 units because of the response we are receiving from the private sector.”
Millennium Heights is within Millennium Park which comprises the largest lifestyle estate in Zimbabwe that includes Millennium Heights, Pokugara Residential Estate, the Mall of Zimbabwe and several office parks.
The cost of construction for the buildings is expected to surpass US$400m with all to be completed within 10 years.
West Property has planned green policy for all of their initiatives.
According to Sharpe, the Millennium Park together with the Pomona City’s strategy entails having over 50% green open areas while Warren Hills is expected to set a record breaking 80% plus open space in which plants, shrubs, trees, and lawns will be planted not only in the open spaces but also on the buildings themselves.
