Casa Real Breaks Ground For The Integrated Project Maraza In Beira, Mozambique

Casa Real, the Mozambican based property developer, recently broke ground on Project Maraza, a residential development comprising 25,000 units on 450 ha of land in the city of Beira. This marks a crucial moment in the redevelopment of the area, which has been impacted by drastic climate change in the past, resulting in the damage of approximately 70% of buildings in 2019 and 2021.

As such, Empowa, Casa Real, Sociedade de Desenvolvimento Urbano da Beira (SDUB), and the Municipality of Beira jointly entered an agreement to support the reconstruction of Beira through resilient and climate-smart affordable homes. Empowa is a housing mortgage lender for low and middle-income citizens, while SDUB is a local initiative by the Dutch government. Under the agreement, Empowa is to provide financing on a lease-to-own basis, while SDUB supports the project through climate adaptation, water management, and land administration.

Below are the development plans: 

Project Maraza comes at a time when masterplanned communities are a trend in the African real estate market. In its neighbouring country, Zambia, Rendeavour founded Roma Park, a 120 ha mixed-use project in 2010, which has since attracted various developments. Notably, Maraza’s development plan not only takes into consideration the climate impacts of the area but also the overall housing crisis in Mozambique. Affordability, quality housing, and mortgage financing are some of the bottlenecks impacting the housing segment. As such, players like Casa Real are making efforts at developing quality, affordable homes for citizens, as this is not its first joint project with Empowa. The developer is in the process of completing its 150-unit Villa Real affordable housing project, which encompasses the rent-to-own scheme, in the outskirts of Beira city.

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