Shelter Afrique, a pan-African housing financing organization, plans to develop 10,000 housing units in collaboration with the Zimbabwean government as the partnership has already begun to yield positive results. After meeting with Housing and Social Amenities Minister Daniel Garwe in Harare on Friday, Shelter Afrique chief executive Andre Chimphondah made the news.
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According to Chimphondah, the financing organization dedicated to developing Africa’s housing and real estate industry, regional offices would be established in Harare. In Zimbabwe, a housing factory for low-cost construction materials would be established.
The Housing Vision
Garwe will chair and drive the housing mission across 44 African nations when Zimbabwe takes over the Shelter-Afrique Annual General Meeting Bureau leadership. In June and July of next year, Shelter Afrique will host its annual general meeting in Victoria Falls. The 10 000 housing units, according to Chimphondah, are part of the institution’s main duty to provide low-cost housing to Africans.
“In delivering our vision, we do it through to key products, that is, public-private partnerships and the provisions of lines of credit to the banks. Now our intent is to go into a private-public-partnership to deliver initially 3 000 units.”
Shelter Afrique, according to Chimphondah, is interested in low-cost, large-scale housing projects. He said the institution was working on a memorandum of understanding with the government in which the former would supply funds while the latter would be in charge of land acquisition and infrastructure building. The exact cost of housing, like any project, is determined by the Bill of Quantities and other factors. However, Chimphonda stated that the company’s definition of affordable housing would be housing priced between $10,000 and $30,000.
Chimphondah went on to say that an AU housing funding summit in Kigali, Rwanda, determined to explore alternative building methods and techniques to reach a house for US$10,000. Shelter Afrique has already contributed US$11 million to BancABC for their capitalization, with funds expected for UDICORP (US$10 million), National Building Society (US$4 million), and other financial institutions.
