CABS to build 2,700 Bulawayo houses

LEADING mortgage lender CABS is set to build over 2,700 housing units in Bulawayo's Nkulumane high density suburb as part of efforts to provide housing to urban low income earners.

CABS is a subsidiary of Old Mutual Zimbabwe.

Old Mutual group chief executive officer Jonas Mushosho told Business Chronicle Wednesday that they have engaged the Bulawayo City Council which has since provided them with the land for the project in Nkulumane.

He said servicing of the land would be done before the end of the year to pave way for the construction of the houses.

"We've engaged the City of Bulawayo over a housing project in Nkulumane and we've been given the land to build 2,795 houses," he said.

"Servicing of the land is going to start this year, and the first phase of the project will see us doing a little under 1,000 houses."

Mushosho would not be drawn into revealing how much had been invested into the Nkulumane housing project citing professional reasons.

He said construction of the houses under the project was being done under the Old Mutual Housing Fund aimed at easing accommodation challenges in the country.

The first project under a similar fund was done in Budiriro high-density suburb in Harare where 2,795 houses have been built.

"We've decided to work with local municipalities and the first project was done in Budiriro," he said.

The Budiriro Housing Project saw Old Mutual through its subsidiary injecting $15 million into the project.

It is hoped that the Nkulumane housing project by CABS will contribute significantly to addressing accommodation challenges to potential home seekers.

Over 100,000 residents in Bulawayo are on the housing waiting list.

The country has a national housing backlog of 1, 25 million.

Under the economic blue print, Zim-Asset, the government targets to provide 300,000 residential stands by 2018.