PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of the US$300 million Hills Luxury Golf Estate in Harare.
The mixed live, work, shop and play luxury lifestyle estate will turn the once Warren Hills golf course into a multi-million-dollar project which will change Harare’s skyline.
Apart from the construction of the world-class golf course, the development will see the construction of villas, apartments, townhouses, country club, hotel, tennis and swimming academies and a shopping mall.
The project, a partnership between the Victoria Stock Exchange-listed WestProp Holdings Limited and City of Harare, will also turn the area into a multi-million-dollar estate, dovetailing with WestProp’s urban renewal thrust.
For WestProp, this project is also in line with the company's dream of laying 1 billion bricks by 2050 on its projects that include Millennium Heights which is ongoing, Pokugara Residential Estate, Pomona City (ongoing), The Mall of Zimbabwe and Millennium Heights Office Park.
There are a number of projects taking place in Harare with the intention of restoring glamour to the once Sunshine City.
The Hills Luxury Golf Estate offers lessons. First public-private partnerships are key in plugging funding gaps.
For the City of Harare, currently drowning in governance missteps, if the ongoing commission of inquiry is anything to go by, the project shows the troubled local authority can salvage something with better planning.
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The city has the land which it can leverage on and attract deep-pocketed developers to renew Harare.
Second, business can thrive in a conducive environment.
This project, like many others that are underway, will thrive due to a multi-currency environment which tags along with predictability.
Businesses thanked Mnangagwa after he extended the multi-currency regime to 2030 which meant that they could plan for their projects.
We are hopeful the de-dollarisation thrust will not be abrupt but a gradual process as we heard towards 2030.
Central bank statistics show that 40% of local transactions are being conducted in the new currency, Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) up from 20% at the launch of the new currency. ZiG, which is backed by gold and forex reserves, debuted in April to replace the battered Zimdollar.
The increased uptake of ZiG is good news for authorities as they want a return to the mono-currency regime. We, however, add that authorities must not rush the process as hurry hurry has no blessing.
Third, banks are missing in action. The absence of mortgage facilities in the economy means that property acquisition is done in cash.
This is an abnormal situation. Where are the banks when they are needed most? WestProp chief executive officer Ken Sharpe told NewsDay in May that his company had a mortgage book bigger than that of banks.
“We are not a bank but our mortgage book of US$24 million growing to US$30 million is bigger than any bank in Zimbabwe; that is not normal, that is not possible. Why are banks not providing mortgages?"
The US$300 million Hills Luxury Golf Estate project shows that business thrives in an environment characterised by predictability.
Incentives given to foreign investors should also be extended to locals for becoming ambassadors by investing more in the country.
