Magaya raises housing stakes to 90 000 units Prophet Magaya
Prophet Magaya

Prophet Magaya

Zvamaida Murwira in Bulawayo
Government is ready to provide more land to Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries for its housing project after the church revealed yesterday that it now targets constructing 90 000 houses, up from its initial figure of 46 000 units.

Minister of State in the Office of Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, Cde Tabetha Kanengoni-Malinga, said Government stood ready to assist PHD Ministries led by Prophet Walter Magaya and other churches that were complementing Government efforts in the provision of houses in fulfilment of the economic blueprint, Zim-Asset.

Government has set a target of constructing 300 000 housing units by 2018, and the pledge by PHD is thus a serious boon for Zim-Asset.

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Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony for a PHD housing project in Bulawayo that targets the construction of 5 000 houses in that city as part of a multi-million dollar project that would see more than 90 000 houses being built in the city of Kings, Harare, Kwekwe and Mutare.

She was standing in for VP Mphoko who failed to attend due to other commitments.

“We will do whatever is possible as Government to assist not only PHD, but other churches that want to follow suit. PHD has set a good example. I am proud of PHD.

“This is what we call pioneering. Housing provision is not for the Government to implement alone but we need to work with other players like the church,” said Cde Kanengoni-Malinga.

She said her presence was testimony of Government’s commitment to assist churches that wanted to make contribution in the alleviation of the plight of the people like provision of accommodation.

“There have been reports that the Government does not support the church. I am here to demonstrate our support for activities by churches,” she said.

Cde Kanengoni-Malinga said Government supported freedom of worship by several religious groupings as evidenced not only by her presence at the ceremony but by the fact that no church had been banned in Zimbabwe.

Speaking at the same occasion, Prophet Magaya said the Bulawayo project had risen from the initially projected figure of 3 000 to 5 000 housing units that PHD together with his construction company, Planet Africa, would build.

Work at the Bulawayo site was expected to start this week while they were pursuing other outstanding regulatory approvals from the local authority.

He said the housing project would be accompanied by other infrastructural services like shops, schools among others and invited service providers to approach the church so that they could partner in transforming the city.

Earlier on Prophet Magaya told journalists that he now targeted to build 90 000 houses across the country from the initially projected figure of 46 000 to be sold at affordable prices.

“The costs would be reduced by about 60 percent because I would be using my construction company which already has caterpillars and other various equipment.

“The costs that would be incurred mainly would be some material, fuel and labour related costs. The concept that we are pursuing is ‘wonderland’ where you would feel that you are in a different land because of the quality of the houses and place,” said Prophet Magaya.

He said PHD might consider imposing certain restrictions within which one would not dispose of the houses to third parties owing to the low prices that would be on offer.

“If I can manage to increase the stands to 90 000, I would be happy,” said Prophet Magaya.

He said several partners, the bulk of whom were from abroad were providing him with support to embark on the multi-million housing project.

The countrywide project is expected to create more than 3 000 jobs and has since employed 1 500 workforce which is already going through orientation in Waterfalls, Harare.

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