The government is struggling to service residential stands promised to both Senators and National Assembly members, with some legislators having since passed on, while the tenure of the ninth Parliament is slowly coming to an end, before they could benefit from the scheme.
Local Government Minister, July Moyo, told the Senate
recently, they were having challenges in having stands serviced for the
lawmakers.
He was responding to questions from MDC Alliance senator,
Violet Moeketsi on when the government would fulfil its promise on their
accommodation.
“At what stage are you now regarding the promise that you
made to the Hon. Members of this august House after raising the concern that we
do not have accommodation and you promised that you are going to allocate us
stands?” asked Moeketsi.
“Some people are passing on because of Covid-19. We might
not continue being in the House but it is important that we secure
accommodation for the sake of our children.”
In his response, Moyo highlighted the challenges they face
in trying to fulfil their promise
“I came to this Chamber together with the Speaker of
Parliament,” said Moyo.
“We spoke at length
that for sure it is important that we fulfil what we promised in this august
House even at government level that Hon. Members of Parliament are given stands
so that they construct their own houses. We agreed on where to allocate such
stands here in Harare.”
He explained further: “So I went and discovered that this
area is more of a bush so, for them to construct there, we have government laws
which say that we cannot just allocate people stands in bushes without any
development like sewer, roads or any servicing. We agreed that as Parliament,
together with the Minister of Finance, that the Minister of Finance should
allocate money for infrastructure development.”
He however said those who were allocated stands in serviced
areas had already started constructing their houses during the previous
Parliament.
“So, in this current Parliament, we also agreed that let us
look at different areas in Bulawayo, Mutare and other cities,” he said.
“So, our local authorities no longer have land. We need to
look for land and we agreed to carry out an exercise to ascertain whether there
is land. We had another exercise with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of
Lands to determine whether there is land in different towns in Zimbabwe so that
we fulfil these promises.”
He added: “The land is available but the challenge is
infrastructure development, the servicing of such land, so that when you are
allocated a stand, you can get title deeds as required by the law. That can be
done if there is service in those stands.” Cite.org.zw
0 comments:
Post a Comment