THE US$4 billion Pomona City project will have an orchard to feed its residents, fostering community and social connection.
The orchard will enhance the estate’s ambience, property values and general appeal.
Two residential stands big enough to fit two apartment blocks have been reserved for the orchard in support of the company’s commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Last Friday, WestProp Holdings chief executive Ken Sharpe led a team from the company to plant fruit trees that include indigenous species like mitamba, mitohwe and exotic trees such as orange, apple, mango, peach, lemon, guava and many others.
The tree-planting exercise dovetails into the national tree-planting programme that seeks to green the environment and provide a sustainable future underpinned by mechanisms that cope with climate change.
Besides the fruit trees, the company is planting palm and indigenous trees such as musasa, mutondo and acacia.
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Sharpe announced that WestProp had partnered Dezzy Nyikadzino, founder of Our Fruit Trees Trust, an organisation that plants fruit trees in public spaces to provide food, green the environment and assist in fighting climate change.
Nyikadzino said he was happy WestProp had sacrificed two property plots for fruit trees.
“We are doing another first in Zimbabwe. I do not know of any developer who has sacrificed space for two buildings to give space for trees,” Sharpe said.
“The benefit to the community is immense. We now have this whole orchard with 68 fruit trees that will produce thousands of fruits for the residents.”
Officials said planting fruit trees in residential estates benefited residents, the environment and the community as trees absorbed carbon dioxide, produced oxygen and purified the air while their roots held the soil together preventing erosion and landslides.