Vusumuzi Dube
The government is considering rewarding rural house designers in monetary terms to enable wide publicity of their work as this promotes a national design culture for housing, a cabinet Minister said on Thursday.
Addressing delegates at an occasion to honour outstanding local rural home designers in the capital, National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Zhemu Soda said government pledges to support and implement the innovative designs and ensure that they become reality and benefit the rural populace.
“Let us continue to work together, combining creativity, expertise and Government support, to build a brighter future for our communities as we collectively strive towards attaining the cherished Prosperous and Empowered Upper Middle-Income Society by 2030,” he said.
“To that end, l would like to implore others to emulate the example and ensure that the competition becomes a regular event that will grow and strengthen with time,” said Zhemu.
He said the designs displayed demonstrated creativity, functionality, and the deep understanding of rural needs, adding that the work will inspire and transform lives for a long time to come.
He said the government, under his Ministry, is mandated to provide modern, affordable and sustainable human settlements as a basic human right, as enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Number 20 of 2013, Section 28.
As part of fulfilling this mandate, he said, the Ministry engaged Studio 5 Architects to provide expert architectural consultancy services.
“This served as a highly successful procurement model, a platform for which students gave the Ministry the best range of design options which are simple, climate proof, flexible and streamlined, to choose from.
“There upon, the competition’s objectives resonate well with the Ministry’s Mission and its core values of innovativeness, environmental, flexibility and accountability as rural housing designs are brought on board in the construction landscape,” he said.
He added that the success of the competition is one major step towards coming up with meaningful private, Public, Partnerships (PPPs) for sustainable rural housing development.
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