News / National
Bulawayo fails to avail land for development
01 Jun 2025 at 14:17hrs | Views
Bulawayo City Council is facing a deepening housing crisis after failing for more than a year to secure contractors to develop new housing stands in the city. Despite multiple attempts and repeated advertisements calling for Expressions of Interest, the local authority has made little progress, exposing significant bureaucratic delays.
Over the past twelve months, the council has re-advertised the tender for housing development three times, raising serious concerns about the underlying causes of this recurring failure. The local authority initially advertised the tender for servicing industrial and residential stands in June 2024, followed by re-advertisements in July 2024 and again in January 2025. Sources within the council have revealed that the tender is set to be re-advertised once more.
This ongoing delay is not merely an administrative hiccup but poses a serious risk of escalating into a humanitarian crisis. Bulawayo faces a massive housing backlog of 125,000 units, while the council's ambitious annual target is to deliver 3,000 new housing units - a goal that seems increasingly unattainable under current circumstances.
When questioned about the failure to award the tenders, Bulawayo City Council's corporate communications manager, Mrs. Nesisa Mpofu, stated that the matter was sensitive and that commenting could jeopardize the tendering process. "The questions refer to matters which are of a procurement nature. The City of Bulawayo cannot comment on this as it is prejudicial and can jeopardize the tendering process," she said.
Mrs. Mpofu, however, acknowledged the difficulty of meeting the housing targets, especially given the challenging economic environment. She emphasized the council's commitment to providing quality housing that includes fully serviced stands equipped with water, sewerage, roads, and public lighting.
"The City of Bulawayo's housing vision is to provide quality housing to its citizens, contributing to their quality of life and satisfaction with their living environment," Mrs. Mpofu said. "In our mandate for housing development, we have to provide 3,000 units per year, which is not an easy feat in light of the harsh economic environment."
On the preferred mechanism for housing delivery, Mrs. Mpofu explained that the council uses various strategies, including pre-sell schemes and public-private partnerships (PPP). Recently, the council has been relying heavily on the PPP model, engaging private developers who have the financial capacity to service residential stands with essential infrastructure.
"The City of Bulawayo uses various housing delivery strategies such as the pre-sell scheme and public-private partnerships. As a housing delivery strategy, the City has engaged private developers to service residential stands with water, sewer reticulation, roads, and public lighting," she said. "This is in accordance with Council policy on engagement of private developers adopted in June 2014."
Under the PPP model, developers with development finance submit proposals through an Expression of Interest process. An Interdepartmental Committee evaluates these proposals and recommends suitable companies to the council, which then enters into service agreements with selected developers. These developers are required to secure bank guarantees, hire qualified engineers for designs, obtain council approvals and development permits before starting work.
Once all formalities are complete, the developers commence servicing the stands and recoup their investments through the sale of serviced plots.
Since fully adopting the PPP model in 2022, the council has seen improved results, with some developers completing servicing requirements in less than a year - a notable achievement after a decade of challenges. Previous strategies were marred by contractors abandoning projects, leading to incomplete developments and costly arbitration processes.
Despite these efforts, the persistent failure to secure contractors remains a serious obstacle as Bulawayo grapples with its growing housing shortage, placing increased pressure on the council to find sustainable solutions to the city's urgent housing needs.
Over the past twelve months, the council has re-advertised the tender for housing development three times, raising serious concerns about the underlying causes of this recurring failure. The local authority initially advertised the tender for servicing industrial and residential stands in June 2024, followed by re-advertisements in July 2024 and again in January 2025. Sources within the council have revealed that the tender is set to be re-advertised once more.
This ongoing delay is not merely an administrative hiccup but poses a serious risk of escalating into a humanitarian crisis. Bulawayo faces a massive housing backlog of 125,000 units, while the council's ambitious annual target is to deliver 3,000 new housing units - a goal that seems increasingly unattainable under current circumstances.
When questioned about the failure to award the tenders, Bulawayo City Council's corporate communications manager, Mrs. Nesisa Mpofu, stated that the matter was sensitive and that commenting could jeopardize the tendering process. "The questions refer to matters which are of a procurement nature. The City of Bulawayo cannot comment on this as it is prejudicial and can jeopardize the tendering process," she said.
Mrs. Mpofu, however, acknowledged the difficulty of meeting the housing targets, especially given the challenging economic environment. She emphasized the council's commitment to providing quality housing that includes fully serviced stands equipped with water, sewerage, roads, and public lighting.
"The City of Bulawayo's housing vision is to provide quality housing to its citizens, contributing to their quality of life and satisfaction with their living environment," Mrs. Mpofu said. "In our mandate for housing development, we have to provide 3,000 units per year, which is not an easy feat in light of the harsh economic environment."
"The City of Bulawayo uses various housing delivery strategies such as the pre-sell scheme and public-private partnerships. As a housing delivery strategy, the City has engaged private developers to service residential stands with water, sewer reticulation, roads, and public lighting," she said. "This is in accordance with Council policy on engagement of private developers adopted in June 2014."
Under the PPP model, developers with development finance submit proposals through an Expression of Interest process. An Interdepartmental Committee evaluates these proposals and recommends suitable companies to the council, which then enters into service agreements with selected developers. These developers are required to secure bank guarantees, hire qualified engineers for designs, obtain council approvals and development permits before starting work.
Once all formalities are complete, the developers commence servicing the stands and recoup their investments through the sale of serviced plots.
Since fully adopting the PPP model in 2022, the council has seen improved results, with some developers completing servicing requirements in less than a year - a notable achievement after a decade of challenges. Previous strategies were marred by contractors abandoning projects, leading to incomplete developments and costly arbitration processes.
Despite these efforts, the persistent failure to secure contractors remains a serious obstacle as Bulawayo grapples with its growing housing shortage, placing increased pressure on the council to find sustainable solutions to the city's urgent housing needs.
Source - Sunday News
