PROPERTY developer, WestProp Holdings Limited, says it has identified a block of 400 flats under its Pomona City residential project which will be affordable amid concerns its projects are expensive.
The property concern has been developing luxurious accommodation in the northern part of Harare which delegates at the three-day Ideas Festival Conference said were beyond the reach of most of the population.
The conference is being hosted by media mogul Trevor Ncube, in partnership with Alpha Media Holdings and its online broadcasting firm, Heart & Soul.
Responding to a question on whether the company had plans to develop projects targeted at low-income earners, WestProp CEO Ken Sharpe said his company had no plans to over promise and under deliver.
“I think there are ‘horses for different courses’ and we have identified ourselves to deliver on our promise in the northern suburbs. We are looking for a solution in Pomona Phase 2,” he said.
“We have identified a block of 400 flats which we believe are going to be affordable and we have even gone to the extent of trying to persuade government to offer these flats to civil servants on some kind of 20-year agreement in terms of the benefits.”
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He said this was because the company knew that the government was not paying its civil servants in US dollars.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony of the WestProp Millennium Park in Harare on Monday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said house and property developers should pursue an inclusive approach that covers all strata of society.
Pomona City is sitting on 273 hectares of land that will have hundreds of residential properties.
Sharpe said the company has a land bank of one billion bricks project worth about US$5 billion.
This plan is expected to run for the next 26 years.
If WestProp was to take on additional projects, Sharpe said, it would result in failure to meet deadlines of its overall target of laying one billion bricks by 2050.
“It (the Pomona flats) is maybe a way for us to offer these flats at low repayments, some at US$100 per month. We are looking at getting affordable, high-quality flat to someone,” Sharpe added.
Meanwhile, Sharpe said the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange-listed firm was conscious of the environment and the sustainability of not only the buildings but the whole development cycle.
“The things that we are focusing on now are green power, green energy. As I mentioned, solar systems are currently powering Millennium Heights and we have the water reticulation system that we are putting in and looking at other factors in development itself like the Pomona City where the city council itself cannot meet the needs of the city’s water and sewage,” he added.
“We are, instead, putting septic tanks, centralised tanks, and sewers, and putting bio digesters which are eco-friendlier and greener. And, of course, when we design the green city that is to come in Pomona City Phase 2, we believe we will have one of the most sustainable cities in Africa.”
Apart from the Pomona City, WestProp is also developing Millennium Heights, Pokugara Residential Estate,The Mall of Zimbabwe, Millennium Heights Office Park and the Hills Golf Estate.