ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange-listed insurance group, NicozDiamond Insurance Limited, which reported a 45 percent growth in post tax profit during the year ended December 31, 2012 of US$2,4 million, from US$1,6 million during the prior comparative period in 2011, said last week it would embark on a massive housing development project in Harare.

The project is earmarked for Hatfield suburb and will kick off this year.

NICOZ managing director (MD), Grace Muradzikwa, declined to disclose the value of the project to analysts during a presentation of the results on Tuesday.

But she said 60 units would be constructed on a 60 000 square metre piece of land.

The land was acquired during the decade of Zimbabwe's economic turmoil which ended in 2009.

Muradzikwa said her group felt it was now the right time to unlock value through the construction of high quality residential properties.

"We do have the Hatfield cluster development," Muradzikwa told analysts.

"We have taken the decision to develop the stands this year. We have owned it for some time," Muradzikwa added.

"We are not yet at a stage to give full details but in terms of timelines it will be (completed in) two years," said Gloria Zvaravanhu, NICOZ's general manager for corporate services.

Demand for housing has been rising in Zimbabwe.

Many listed companies seeking to spread risk through the diversification of their investments have recently been constructing houses for low and medium income earners.

NICOZ's full-year results indicated that the group's investment portfolio heavily leaned towards its property portfolio.

In September, NICOZ embarked on the extensive refurbishment of its flagship property, Third Samora Machel (TSM) to enhance the building's classification and improve rental earnings.

Last week, Muradzikwa said similar work was ongoing in most of the insurance group's properties.

TSM houses the insurance firm's head office.

The building also houses offices of several companies.

Its outlook had deteriorated in the past decade.

NICOZ's fear was that in its previous condition, TSM could fail to attract high networth tenants.

The project, which was expected to be completed before the end of 2012, is now behind schedule, but Muradzikwa said completion was not far from now.

"The refurbishment of the building is ongoing," the NICOZ boss said last week.

"It is taking a little long, we apologise for that but in another month we will be unveiling our new banking hall," she told analysts.

The TSM project would enhance the building's classification from tier C to tier B and would enable the property to attract higher occupancy levels.

Contractors have been on site and large parts of TSM have been refurbished, with its glassy outlook now a big attraction in the city.

Another ZSE-listed firm, Zimre Property Investment (ZPI) two weeks ago said its Zimre Park Masvingo housing development project had received tremendous interest across the country.

"The phased disposal of serviced stands in Zimre Park Masvingo is ongoing with total sales achieved to date amounting to US$2,36 million," ZPI said in a commentary accompanying its full-year results for the period ending December 31 2012.

"Altogether 140 stands out of 388 stands have been sold, thus the number of stands remaining available for sales is 198. To date 48 percent of the total cost of the project amounting to US$4,96 million has been recovered. In area terms, total sales amount to 29,47 hectares representing 37 percent of the entire 80 hectare development. Therefore the 48 percent project cost recovery is from just 37 percent of the development amounting to the US$2,36 million in monetary value," said ZPI.

It said most sewerage and water pipes had been completed at another project in Harare, the Tynwald project.

ZPI expected to generate US$4 million from the project, which was expected to be completed at the end of March 2013.
 

Source : allafrica.com

Posted on : 30 Nov,-0001