By A Correspondent| The government has missed the deadline for completing the 18 luxury presidential villas in Mt Hampden, which were intended to accommodate heads of State and government officials during the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit, scheduled to begin tomorrow.

As a result, government officials are scrambling to secure alternative accommodations for the visiting leaders at three hotels in the capital. The government had contracted a Swiss company and brought in 500 workers, investing millions of U.S. dollars on materials imported from the United Arab Emirates in an effort to complete the villas in time.

Yesterday, workers were still busy, just two days before the summit’s commencement. Several leaders, including Namibia’s President Nangolo Mbumba, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera, and Lesotho’s Prime Minister Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane, have already arrived in the country.

Amos Marawa, the Deputy Chief Secretary and National Coordinator for Flagship Programmes and Projects in the Office of the President and Cabinet, who is overseeing the villa construction, could not be reached for comment. However, government sources indicated that the visiting dignitaries are likely to stay at the Hyatt Regency (formerly Meikles Hotel), Rainbow Towers, and Monomotapa Hotel.

“This isn’t the first time Zimbabwe has hosted a summit of this scale. We have hotels capable of accommodating the VVIPs attending the summit,” a source said.

In May, Marawa told the state media that 500 engineers from Mabetex Group, a Swiss civil engineering and construction company, would be working alongside 300 local artisans. Mabetex, which specializes in large-scale construction projects, was expected to complete the villas by mid-July, well ahead of the summit. At the time, Marawa was confident, stating that each villa would take just two days to erect, with six teams working simultaneously to meet the deadline.