NSSA Spends US$2 Million On St Tropez Property Rehabilitation
The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has spent more than US$2 million to renovate St Tropez apartments in Estlea, Harare.
St Tropez is located along Samora Machel Avenue and has 60 units comprising 22 one-bedroomed and 38 two-bedroomed apartments.
Speaking to Business Times on the sidelines of a ceremony to officially open the apartments recently, NSSA general manager Charles Shava said:
The [US$2 million] refurbishment is a complete face-lift to this community and to our capital city, Harare.
The flats will now be operated by a corporate tenant Urban Vision as a self-catering apartment hotel offering a bed and breakfast.
Their convenient proximity to the city centre is an added advantage for the occupancy.
NSSA Chairman Emmanuel Fundira said the St Tropez apartment will have a social impact in terms of providing decent accommodation. He said:
The St Tropez apartments add a new dimension to the housing projects that NSSA is involved in.
Traditionally, NSSA, together with its wholly owned subsidiary, NBS, has focused on low-cost houses in line with its social security mandate.
The objective of this strategy is to maximise the number of people that would benefit from the units constructed.
Units, such as the St Tropez apartments, are purely an investment decision that is expected to yield good returns for the sustainability of the NSSA fund.
In the same vein, this investment is therefore a win-win as it has a social impact in terms of providing decent accommodation.
Fundira said such investments will help beneficiaries such as pensioners, orphans, and other disadvantaged people covered by Authority schemes get better payouts.
According to Business Times, the flats were acquired in 1985 for the Worker’s Compensation Insurance Fund (WCIF) under the then Ministry of Labour.
They were later inherited by NSSA in 1994.
In 1999, NSSA attempted to sell the property on the open market but faced objections from the residents.
The case eventually spilled to the Supreme Court which in June 2016 ruled in favour of NSSA and granted it an order to evict the tenants.
The protracted legal dispute resulted in the collapse of the flats’ water and sewer reticulation system.
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