Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Former President Robert Mugabe’s daughter Bona and Simba Chikore her husband are reportedly struggling to complete the mansion they were building in Harare’s Umwinsidale Suburb, The NewsHawks exclusively revealed.
A well placed source from the Mugabe family reportedly told the publication that the mansion sits on 22 hectares of land is expected to gobble US$20 million for it to be completed:
At the moment the total cost of the house is expected to be at least US$20 million. This is because the owners of the property are now struggling to finish the house, which at the beginning was supposed to cost US$39 million.
President Mugabe was reportedly financing the project for Bona and Simba Chikore before his infamous ouster by his trusted lieutenants in 2017:
..The late former president was financing the project. Remember he gave Bona and Simba his historic Mount Pleasant house during their wedding, but after that they asked him to build a house of their choice and dreams. Mugabe said he would fund the project; he paid for everything before he died. Simba and Bona are now struggling to complete it. It’s a huge project; they need millions of US dollars to finish it.
According to the publication, another source told them about some of the expenses that have to be scared at the property for it to be complete:
The price would have been much higher if they still had money because in an elevated mountain area like that it might have cost up to US$5 000 per square metre to build, but that has now been contained at US$2 500 per square metre.
So when you add land, construction, design and landscaping costs, at a minimum square metre charge of US$2 500 it becomes US$20 million, but if you take a maximalist approach it will be US$39 million.
This includes the cost of paying the whole project team; the architect (team leader), structural engineer, civil engineer, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer.
These days there is also the environmental engineer. While professional architects usually charge 7% of the project cost, the engineers charge 3.5%. These are the professional rates but, of course, people always negotiate.
Besides all that, there will also be a road which will stretch for a kilometre inside the property given its magnitude and that will cost up to US$1.5 million on its own. Building a kilometre of a proper tarred road costs between US$1 million and US$1.2 million.
Bona was the executor of her famous father’s estate and it emerged that the Mugabes were rich when he died as he had $10 million dollars in his bank account when he died.
More: The Newshawks
