Harare Metropolitan Province Secretary for Provincial
Affairs and Devolution Mr Tafadzwa Muguti, has said developments in the
Arlington and Retreat areas should never have been allowed to happen, according
to the Civil Aviation Act and the Airports Company of Zimbabwe Act.
He said all the houses around those areas had fallen into
the red zone and should be demolished.
“As it is, the bulk of Retreat developments which have
happened between February last year and today, you can see them from Seke Road,
are all in the red zone meaning that anything can happen.
“They are prone to disaster. We are approaching all courts
and following all laws. All the houses, which are sitting within the red zone
are going to be demolished, all of them. The law is the law.”
Mr Muguti also said developments in Arlington B had also
fallen into the restricted area of the airport and the developers had since
been instructed to stop.
“The Arlington development, in the first place, was not
supposed to be in that zone. So, the further expansion of Arlington is a risk
to the operations of the airport in its entirety. All the houses, all the
developments in the Retreat airport area are going to be demolished,” he said.
Most of the homeowners in the area bought their land from
private developers and land barons, some of whom did not regularise the stands
with the Harare City council. Some of the stands have been pegged along river
banks.
Mr Muguti advised residents that there was no land
available in the airport zone.
“People also have to understand that if you buy land from
an individual and not the Government, at any point, in the Urban Councils Act
and the Original Town and Country Planning Act, the Government or the local
authority can come in and declare that place to be a road, rail or anything
else,” he said.
Government has said that all developments in the airport
zone have to be specifically aligned to functions of an airport, which is why
it has not been keen on people occupying those areas.
The houses in the Retreat area have actually taken over the
rail servitude for the proposed Harare-Chitungwiza railway line, whose plans
had always been there.
Harare Residents’ Trust director, Mr Precious Shumba, said
the Government and Harare City Council should have acted on these settlements a
long time ago before they had gotten out of hand.
“The authorities should have ensured compliance to the
Original Town and Country Act. We have had these land developers and land
barons who were involved in developments that are not in line with the Act for
years. These illegal settlements have taken place while authorities were
watching. For a long time, Hatfield residents raised concern about these
settlements but nothing was done,” he said.
Mr Shumba said it
was unfortunate that the decision to demolish all developments around the area
was coming after people had invested a lot and built their homes.
“Government now needs to exercise its authority in this
instance because the land around airports is considered to be a national
security issue. Government should not beat about the bush, they must stop these
developments and protect State land,” he said.
Local urban planner, Dr Percy Toriro, said the issue of
settlements around airports was sensitive and it was international best
practice to leave land around airports free of human settlements.
“Airports are very
sensitive areas. There is the issue of safety; in the event of an aircraft
accident, there are likely to be fatalities. So this is why areas around
airports need to be carefully planned. This development is in conformity with
what is generally acceptable as airport development conditions.
“If anything, we are only adopting international best
practices in airport development. This is what we should have done long ago
because airports are delicate,” said Dr Toriro.
Research has shown that globally, although settlements
around airports have been growing, there are dangers associated with such
developments.
A report done by Rashid Abdullah titled, “Urban planning
and Airports: Land use compatibility for optimal development of Malindi
Airport”, shows that although aircraft accidents are rare, there was a need to
take into account safety issues in the likely event that it happened.
Other negative impacts include exposure to noise produced
by aircraft, which is incompatible with having residential areas close to
airports.
Air quality in the vicinity of airports can also be
affected by aircraft engine emissions, emissions from airport motor vehicles
and access traffic, and emissions from other sources.
As is the case of Arlington area, there are also
socio-economic impacts which will result due to the disruption of the already
established communities that will be evicted from the airport land.
All the land around the airport has been declared reserved
for airport expansion and plans are in place to build a second runway for the
expanded Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport. Herald
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