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Enacy Mapakame Business Reporter

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) listed agro-focused group CFI Holdings Limited is looking at developing residential houses for Harare’s low-end market, as part of its contribution to reducing the current huge housing backlog in the capital.

Group chairperson Itai Pasi indicated this will be one of the group’s key priority areas this current financial year.

According to Ms Pasi, the initiative will also complement efforts by other stakeholders in the real estate sector’s residential segment in terms of providing more housing options for home seekers, especially in urban centres.

Official statistics show demand for housing is generally high in the country with nearly two million residents on the waiting list for low-cost housing; of which about half a million units are required for Harare alone.

The ever-increasing demand for low-cost housing has also given rise to land fraudsters, taking advantage of desperate home seekers by parcelling out land illegally and double allocations which have also resulted in the sprouting of illegal settlements.

“Priority will also be given to the development of low-cost housing delivery in Harare South in support of the Government’s Vision 2030 on housing.

“The scourge of land barons will need resolution to make way for progressive and orderly infrastructure deployment and service delivery to the various settlements,” she said in an update for the year to September 30, 2022.

Ms Pasi also highlighted that business progress has been made toward development at Saturday Retreat.

She said: “Town planning permits secured in prior year and other development preliminaries pursued during the year will assist the group in giving impetus to the development stage of the project.”

This comes as residents who were in arrears managed to settle their payments last year.

At Suncrest Park, the group progressed with preparations for title surveys and completion of engineering drawings while legal proceedings remain pending before the relevant tribunals for Langford Estates.

Meanwhile, CFI’s revenue the year increased by 39,4 percent to $49,3 billion from $35,39 billion in the previous year driven by improved sales volumes from Victoria Foods underpinned by continued recapitaliaation.

Of the revenue, retail operations contributed 80 percent, a decline from 91,9 percent in the prior year, while milling operations — Victoria Foods — contributed 17,4 percent and farming operations accounted for 2,6 percent.

The retail division – Farm and City Centre (FCC) recorded volumes went down 21 percent on depressed demand, impacting the whole group’s overall performance.

The group incurred unrealised exchange losses of $6,1 billion on its foreign currency-denominated loans. 

As a result, the group widened loss before tax to $2,59 billion against a loss of $0,75 billion for prior year.