Suburban
MANDARA residents have expressed concern over the construction of a furniture factory in the suburb with property owners wondering why such facilities should be established in residential areas yet there are several empty industrial sites in Harare.
Suburban Reporter
The residents are also worried about the further disruptions the factory, described as huge, might bring in terms of power supply in the area if it is to draw its electricity from the same transformers households are drawing theirs from.
According to the residents, some of them are already experiencing severe voltage issues and this is bound to worsen when the factory begins operations.
The factory is being put up along Glenconner Road at Mandara Shopping Centre. But residents said the roads in the area are already battered and with the imminent transportation of raw materials and finished goods to and from the factory using heavy trucks, the roads will further deteriorate.
Residents also complained about the mushrooming of vending stalls in the suburb and the setting up of a brickmaking company.
Other residents suggested that they could do a petition and take the City of Harare to task over the developments and the mushrooming of vendors everywhere in the suburb. Suggestions were also made to have the media highlight the issues affecting the residents.
But some recommended that the residents should engage the Greendale district officer Stella Mukwedeya to get the right answers on what was being built because they might run ahead of themselves when maybe the structure being constructed at Mandara Shopping Centre could be a supermarket, which could ease their shopping woes given the area has no proper shops.
So pissed off were the residents they questioned the City of Harare’s insistence that they should pay their rates when all these illegal activities were taking place in a residential area under the watch of the municipality.
However, others said they believed they should continue paying their rates and then demand services because if they boycott paying they will turn council from failing to perform to completely being unable to perform. The petition route had some takers with an example being given of how Greendale residents had in 2018 managed to stop the illegal conversion of a residential property at Number 346 Samora Machel Avenue for commercial use as a warehouse.
In their petition, Greendale residents argued that they were never informed about the conversion of the property into a warehouse. Haulage trucks were frequenting the property much to the dismay of residents.
The Greendale property owners objected to the development saying council must do its work as they were experiencing a huge flow of trucks on a service lane and this had gone unabated.
They argued that there were many empty warehouses in the Msasa industrial area, empty shops and offices at Rhodesville Shopping Centre and vacant shops at Runniville Shopping Centre, which could have been a far better option for the owner of the business.
“With the nature of warehousing comes the potential of theft and break-in exposure which won’t be isolated to the warehouse but surrounding or adjoining properties, this is also because the place will be vacant at night.
“To mitigate the above, all of us will have to consider insurance upgrades due to the association with stated risk(s),” said the residents.
The residents also feared the inconvenience of noise and air pollution the warehouse was likely to bring to their neighbourhood.
“This property is right in the centre of a small group of 11 residences and the company building the warehouse is a manufacturer or wholesaler of paints, solvents, safety clothing, etc.
“These products pose a fire hazard and danger to residents.
“Noise is a major concern to residents when paints and tints are being mixed and air pollution and fumes that will emanate from paint mixing and tinting,” read the residents’ petition.
They further argued that there was insufficient space for parking staff vehicles, trucks, loading and off-loading of delivery trucks and containers.
