This is according to Harare Metropolitan Provincial Affairs
and Devolution Permanent Secretary Tafadzwa Muguti.
Chitungwiza accounts for nearly 50 percent of the 52 000
illegal houses in Harare province, which also covers Epworth and Ruwa.
The Chitungwiza Municipality has been operating without a
master plan since 1996.
This has resulted in the local authority facing a lot of
challenges, chief among them, uncontrolled residential developments.
There has been a massive invasion of institutional stands,
wetlands, recreational, as well as servitude areas.
Chitungwiza Municipality spokesperson, Lovemore Meya, said
the Council was working on rectifying the situation.
“Regarding the mushrooming of illegal houses, we have been
working on issuing stock development orders and enforcement orders,” he said.
“However, the illegal activities continue despite us giving
warnings to residents.
“To those building their homes illegally, we are in the
process of crafting a masterplan, which will guide us on how we should proceed.
“We are going to be checking whether the houses were
constructed on servitudes, sewer, under power lines and all undesignated
sites.”
Muguti said land
barons were contributing to the spike in illegal settlements due to the absence
of a Council master plan wealth.
“As we speak, dysfunctional settlements are the order of
the day in towns such as Chitungwiza.
“We have over 52 000 illegal settlements in Harare
province.
“Some have no
documents and some have corrupt documents, and Chitungwiza alone has 25 000.
“Government is
having a headache trying to clear a mess that has been created by some
opportunists who are not even Council workers or Government officials.”
He added: “If
someone is corrupt, they should face the law.
“If we see you building without documentation, we will act
immediately,” Muguti said. H Metro
0 comments:
Post a Comment