WestProp chief executive Ken Sharpe has criticised Harare City Council over what he described as exorbitant fees and poor service delivery urging government intervention to support Zimbabwe’s real estate sector.
Speaking on the sidelines of an analyst briefing for the newly launched Radisson Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in Harare, Sharpe said developers were being forced to shoulder the cost of infrastructure that should be provided by the city.
“These city fathers, they are disappointing us, they’re not giving us the services we need, they’re not giving us the service delivery that we expect and they are charging us a lot of money,” Sharpe said
Citing the Pomona City development, he said WestProp had been compelled to build its own sewer processing facilities, water storage infrastructure with a six-million-litre capacity and other amenities – despite continuing to pay city rates.
“Imagine just to submit a plan through building like this, hundreds of thousands of dollars. How can you pay a hundred thousand dollars for submitting a plan? It’s unrealistic, it’s unreasonable,” he added.
Sharpe called for a cap on building application fees, suggesting US$500 for residential projects and US$10,000 for commercial developments.
“Government must intervene and fix the fee,” he said.
The WestProp CEO argued that excessive costs and lack of municipal support were stunting the growth of Zimbabwe’s property market.
He noted that real estate contributes just 1.8% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), compared with 12–15% across much of Africa and around 20% globally.
“We want to grow the sector. It’s one of the backbones of any economy. National government please support us, local government please support us, we need your support. And lastly people, we need your support – without you we are nothing, we are the company of the future,” Sharpe said.
