Bulawayo commissioned a new suburb - Emhlangeni

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has just commissioned a new suburb - Emhlangeni in Ward 3, by unveiling 391 medium density residential housing stands.

Emhlangeni is adjacent to Romney Park and Paddonhurst suburbs.

The project - Emhlangeni Phase One is the third in a series of pre sale projects that the Bulawayo City Council is implementing.

Emhlangeni contract was implemented at a cost of $2, 9 million, whose servicing was done by Stelix Civils Private Limited.

Officiating at the commissioning ceremony Thursday, Deputy Mayor, Gift Banda said work on Emhlangeni, dubbed Phase One, started on September 5, 2013 after the tender was awarded to contractor, Stelix Civils Private Limited.

"The contract was originally expected to take 24 weeks but was later extended by another 16 weeks hence the final completion date was September 5, 2014. These projects, we are embarking on as the local authority are efforts to reduce the housing backlog, which has 110 000 people on the housing waiting list. This number shows we still have a lot of work to do in making sure we clear the backlog. I hope that under the current strategic vision of Bulawayo we will implement the necessary techniques to try and clear this backlog," he said.

Banda said the servicing of Emhlangeni was made possible by the partnership of the city council and the potential home owners who were the financiers of the service.

"It is important to highlight that we would not have been able to finalise this programme without the contribution of the Emhlangeni stand owners who provided the funding to service the land. The provision of housing is one of the strategic targets of Bulawayo, as we note that the context of human security is closely embedded in housing. Lack of housing not only compromises development but constitutes various societal ills that arise from homelessness. Inadequate housing is thus retrogressive to the prospects for sustainable livelihoods," he highlighted.

The deputy mayor noted that major work at Emhlangeni covered servicing of stands with water sewers and tarred roads.

"The total length of these services are sewer - 5 320 metres, water - 7 420 metres and roads - 6 250 metres," he said.

"BCC will be going on to service the next estates such as Luveve 5 Extension with 875 high density residential stands and the Mahatshula 169 medium density residential stands. Currently Emhlangeni phase 2 with 541 medium density stands is under design. It is my hope that these efforts will try and alleviate the problem of housing in Bulawayo. I appeal to the new community of Emhlangeni and Bulawayo as whole to continue looking after the infrastructure that has been installed and to prevent any form of vandalism so that the services last a long time," added Banda.

Director of Engineering Services, Simela Dube mentioned some challenges both the city council and contractor went through such as the need to relocate, come up with a design for a new Outfall and to connect the sewer into the bigger existing sewerage pipe.

"The areas is also predominantly clayey soils and there were unforeseen large volumes of rock which had to blasted from trenches. Since the project is now complete it is now in its Defects Liability Phase for one year maintenance period starting from March, 10 2015. This means the contractor liability ends March, 10 2016," said the city's engineer.

Stelix Private Limited Engineer and Managing Director, Philani Mpofu, also echoed the same challenges and thanked his team for working with both the council, home owners and other stakeholders.

"Usually there is likely to be an impasse between contractors and engineers but we worked well as a team," he said.