LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Financial services group, ZB Financial Holdings (ZBFH), will acquire more pieces of land across the country, underlining its confidence in the property market, Business Times can report.
The move is also meant to strengthen the lender’s balance sheet against the volatile environment. Currently, ZBFH has land ranging from commercial to residential, totalling about 638 hectares.
ZBFH’s head of corporate services, Shadowsight Chiganze told this publication that the bank will identify and acquire more land to hedge against volatile environment.
“The target is to grow the land bank by about 20 hectares mixed between commercial and residential,” Chiganze said.
He said the group was buying land for development and will sell as completed units. The group is not selling any stands at the moment. We are in the process of developing those stands. We will update the market on progress in this regard at the opportune time,” Chiganze said.
Last year, ZBFH acquired over 63 Hopeview stands and the management is evaluating what can be done with the strategic land that goes to the Bulawayo Airport for the financial institution to monetise that land.
Chiganze said the group was also assessing the Plumtree housing project to see if it was still viable or not as the cost of doing business has almost doubled in the process.
The group said the cost of setting up of an off site infrastructure has skyrocketed with a lot of contractors asking for United States dollar payments.
ZBFH has also acquired a farm in Ruwa where it is in the process of regularising with Housing and Social Amenities ministry together with five cooperatives which will see residents paying for the land to the group. Chiganze said the construction of other projects will depend on the stabilising of the exchange rate and prices.
The group’s plans were to purchase more land around the country for housing projects but is now looking for viable projects due to the current economic environment.
