Suburban
Acting Harare Mayor Stewart Musarurwa Mutizwa has cleared the air on the burning boom gates issue saying council is not banning the erection of boom gates in suburbs but wants residents to abide by the law when putting these up.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
Councillor Mutizwa said boom gates must be erected in terms of by-laws and residents or communities wishing to erect the security barriers should approach council and seek the municipality’s approval before embarking on the exercise.
The acting Mayor told Suburban that wide consultations should be done before a boom gate is authorised, meaning the residents and council should sanction the structure in order to properly secure the community and maintain smooth flow of traffic at the same time.
“The boom gates issue, remains a by-law issue. For anyone to just wake up and to have put up a boom gate or a barrier, it is illegal. It is not allowed, you need to consult both the residents themselves and council. We are cognisant of the prevalent cases in terms of security and thefts,” he said.
“Council says for anyone or any community to have a boom gate, there must be a process of consultations that needs to be conducted, looking at the case of an ambulance where there is an emergency and the boom gate will be closed without an attendant, a life may be lost, and also in the cases of fire, lives may also be lost.
“Smooth flow of traffic should be maintained, council is not coming in and saying don’t put boom gates, no. Wide consultations should be done and the local authority should sanction it after they see that it will not affect anyone so that residents are properly secured,” said Councillor Mutizwa.
Last week, community leaders encouraged residents to push for the amendment of such council by-laws but the acting Mayor’s explanation means residents just need to seek the approval council after holding wide consultations with all concerned stakeholders.
Even after getting council approval the residents should ensure the boom gates are erected according to council’s specifications to maintain smooth flow of traffic and ensure the boom gates are manned for ease access by service providers such as the fire and ambulance services as well as refuse trucks and other utility providers intending to repair infrastructure such as for electricity, phone and internet services.
In a statement last week, the CoH noted with concern the increase in illegal boom gates in the capital’s suburbs and urged all residents who erected these structures without council’s approval to remove them or face the full wrath of the law.
