Suburban
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
THE City of Harare on Thursday demolished the security wall of a private hospital in Milton Park arguing that the health facility’s owners had encroached onto council land.
A video circulating on various social media platforms showed city workers using a front end loader to pull down the security wall at Milton Park Medical Centre.
In an interview on Friday, a top council official in the Development Control Unit said the medical facility’s security wall had encroached onto what was once council land reserved for parking but has since been sold to a new owner.
The new owner demanded that the health’s facility’s security wall be removed because it had chewed up part of their stand.
“The medical centre encroached onto council land for parking purposes and built a boundary wall around that area. Council later sold that piece land to another developer who demanded that the durawall (security wall) be removed so that he can take possession of his land. Initially, the hospital undertook to remove the durawall but reneged prompting the owner to approach the courts and compel council to remove the encroaching part of the security wall and surrender the vacant piece of land into his custody. CoH and the proprietor then reached an out of court settlement prompting the removal of the security wall yesterday (Thursday),” said the official.
Milton Park Medical Centre provides high-quality medical facilities for patients from Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries. The hospital has a three-theatre complex with up-to-date air sterilisation management systems. Its facilities include fully air-conditioned wards with both high dependency and critical care amenities.
The demolition drew a lot of reactions from commentators on social media with some criticising the municipality for rushing to demolish investments but always arguing fuel shortages when called upon to collect garbage and provide services to residents.
However, other commentators pointed out that land owners and developers should always build their properties following the law to avoid such incidents where whole buildings or houses end up being demolished. Some expressed concern why council always waits for people to finish building before moving in to demolish.
