Staff Writer 
WARWICKSHIRE Private Limited (Warwickshire) is set to construct hotels and lodges near Lake Chivero, setting its sights on entering Zimbabwe’s leisure and tourism industry.
The developments will form part of the company’s 829-hectare LakeCity housing development project, which also features over 3 000 residential and commercial stands.
Warwickshire director Tapiwa Nyandoro said the tourism aspect of the LakeCity project will lean heavily on the natural aesthetics of Lake Chivero and the animal sanctuary at the Lake. “We have hotels and lodges planned on the edge of the project.
There is a nice area that gives you a beautiful view towards Lake Chivero. We intend to create an offering which also draws in international clients as well, so we are leveraging the beauty of the Lake, and we are leveraging the beauty of the national park which surrounds the Lake,” Nyandoro said.
To add to the leisure aspect of the project, a golf course is also planned at LakeCity. “We have got the leisure offerings that are there, the golf course, the amenities, even the lake view. We also want to hit that international market to ensure that Lake City is synonymous with (South Africa’s) Sun City, for example, somewhere people come to when they want to have some fun,” Nyandoro said.
Meanwhile, Nyandoro said the other aspect of LakeCity will comprise segmented residential stands for low to high-income earners. Flats and cluster homes are also part of the development in line with the government’s trajectory on urban densification.
“Closer to the lake, it’s low density, but as you move away, we have those offerings that are available for the middle income and lower income families,” Nyandoro said, adding that the first batch of fully serviced stands will be available by December 2026.
“We want to expand beyond just the home seeker to somebody who is looking even for a second home.” Commercial stands for shopping malls and schools will also be availed.
“So for the first step, we are transforming the offering for those who are already on the ground, that is step number one to ensure that for those low income families who were looking for a place to stay we have created a place to stay for them.
After that first step, we then approach the more open market, where we are inviting people who knew nothing about this area to come and check out Lake City, see what it is offering and potentially invest there,” he said.
According to Warwickshire Private Limited, over 7 000 residential, recreational and commercial structures are expected to be developed at LakeCity to cater for over 40 000 residents. Zimbabwe’s national housing backlog is currently estimated to be around two million housing units. The shortage is highly pronounced in urban centres such as Harare and Bulawayo and as such, Nyandoro feels that the Lake City project will positively impact the national housing delivery programme. “We are serving the needs of NDS1, we are serving the needs of Vision 2030 through our project,” he said.
