Housing and Social Amenities minister, Daniel Garwe, said that local authorities should issue housing stands to home seekers in areas that are fully serviced.

Speaking at the launch of the Hopelyn Housing scheme in Bulawayo recently, Garwe said it is now a jailable offence to build a house before infrastructure such as roads, functioning water and sewer systems have been put in place. Garwe said:

What we are doing now going forward is to ensure that on-site and off-site infrastructure is provided before any house is built.

Building a house before the services are provided is now a jailable offence. I have no apologies to make for that statement.

It’s criminal for local authorities to allow people to build on virgin land.

Garwe said his ministry was playing its role by assisting banks, investors and local authorities to deliver housing to citizens.

Zimbabwe has an estimated 1.5 million housing backlog.

-BusinessTimes