Mt Hampden Villas miss another deadline

THE Government has missed another self-imposed deadline for completing the presidential villas in Mt Hampden, with the June 2026 target passing without any of the facilities being handed over for use.

The latest delay marks another setback for a flagship infrastructure project that was originally intended to accommodate visiting heads of state during the 44th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit hosted by Zimbabwe in August 2024.

When that deadline was missed, the Government was forced to accommodate visiting dignitaries in Harare hotels, including the Hyatt Regency Harare, Rainbow Towers Hotel and Monomotapa Hotel.

A subsequent completion target of March 2025 also passed without the project being finalised.

In April this year, Cabinet announced that the presidential villas and associated conference facilities would be completed by the end of June 2026.

However, the deadline has now elapsed with construction still incomplete.

At the construction site in Mt Hampden, skeletal structures remain visible, reflecting the project's continued delays.

According to workers who spoke on condition of anonymity, some employees have reportedly gone for months without receiving their salaries.

The presidential villas form part of the wider US$500 million Zimbabwe Cyber City project, which has been promoted as Africa's first smart city and is central to Government's plans to develop Mt Hampden into the country's new administrative capital.

The project has been undertaken by Swiss construction company Mabetex Group, with Government reportedly spending millions of United States dollars importing specialised construction materials from the United Arab Emirates.

Sources familiar with the project attributed the continued delays to capacity constraints affecting the contractor.

The delays extend beyond the presidential villas.

The broader Mt Hampden administrative capital project continues to face challenges, including outstanding compensation payments to farmers whose land was compulsorily acquired to make way for the development.

The project has frequently featured in Government communications as a flagship infrastructure initiative intended to transform Zimbabwe's administrative and business landscape.

However, analysts say the repeated failure to meet announced completion dates raises broader questions about project implementation and public infrastructure delivery.

Some critics have called for Parliament to investigate the project's finances, arguing that repeated delays despite budgetary allocations warrant greater public accountability.

They contend that the prolonged construction timeline has fuelled concerns over project management and the utilisation of public resources.

Analysts further argue that the presidential villas are not an isolated case but reflect a wider pattern in which major infrastructure announcements have often failed to translate into timely project completion.

In recent years, several high-profile public infrastructure projects have experienced significant delays or stalled altogether, often with limited public explanation from the responsible authorities.

The continued postponement of the Mt Hampden villas is likely to intensify calls for greater transparency, stronger project oversight and improved accountability in the implementation of large-scale Government infrastructure programmes.