Zimpapers Logo

THE infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) says it is planning to replicate the Bulawayo students’ hostels complex in other cities and towns to address the problem of shortage of students accommodation.

The US$17 million students’ hostels complex near the National University of Science and Technology (Nust), will accommodate more than 1 000 students from different institutions of higher learning in the city.

The complex will have fast food outlets, canteen, shops, salons, medical and sporting facilities.
The students will in fact, get all their requirements at the complex so they do not need to go to town for shopping and other services.

Measures have been taken to ensure the place, though open to members of the public, has maximum security to guarantee students’ safety.

We want to commend the IDBZ for providing such a facility to complement efforts by institutions of higher learning such as Nust to provide accommodation to students.

Many students in the city who have failed to secure accommodation at their respective institutions are being fleeced by landlords that are charging exorbitant rentals. Some of the students are living under squalid conditions as they are forced to share rooms and other facilities such as bathrooms and toilets despite paying high rentals.

The situation is the same in the different cities and towns as universities and colleges are failing to accommodate all the students that require campus accommodation.

The landlords are therefore taking advantage of the desperate students to charge exorbitant rentals which in some cases are as high as US$70 per head for students sharing a room. Some unscrupulous landlords are accommodating as many as three students per room.

It is our hope that the IDBZ will move fast to build students’ hostels in Gweru, Harare, Masvingo,

Mutare and other towns to address the problem of shortage of students’ accommodation.

We want at this juncture to implore other financial institutions to invest in similar projects to guarantee students decent and affordable accommodation.

The investment returns are guaranteed as students and tenants occupying the different facilities such as shops and salons will pay rentals.

The enrolment at universities is estimated at 70 000 but only 11 000 are accommodated at the institutions. The figures being enrolled by institutions of higher learning are growing each year hence the need to invest in students’ accommodation. Local authorities on their part should avail land for the construction of these hostels.