Suburban
HARARE City Council only managed to allocate 163 stands against a target of 5 000, Mayor Jacob Mafume has said.
In his end of year message to stakeholders at Town House on Wednesday, Councillor Mafume acknowledged that the city continues to perform dismally in the housing sector.
“We are remodelling the housing delivery strategy so that we work with reputable institutions and developers in the servicing of stands so that we can be able to provide stands with onsite and bulk offsite infrastructure,” he said.
“The current model is not working, and this has created opportunities for land barons to swindle desperate home seekers.”
Cllr Mafume said next year they will embark on a programme to ensure that properties have title deeds.
“In addition to that, we will sell houses to sitting tenants who have occupied the properties for an agreed period,” he said.
He added that they continue to explore sustainable means of rehabilitating social services infrastructure.
“We have had challenges in refurbishing Gwanzura and Rufaro Stadium and we will continue to explore sustainable means of rehabilitating our social services infrastructure without prejudicing the owners – the residents of Harare,” Cllr Mafume said.
“Rufaro Stadium will be refurbished by council, and we are hoping to make it operational by March 2023.
“Refurbishment of Gwanzura stadium by OPPEAL is going ahead as planned, although there were operational challenges which have since been resolved.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Mafume has warned residents and land barons to stop the proliferation of illegal settlements and structures in the city.
He urged residents to abstain from building on wetlands.
“Development in wetlands is not a good environmental practice and as such, we urge residents and land barons to stop building on these places.
“Going forward, we will continue raising awareness on procedures that must followed when developing stands and any other properties.
“We do not want to be a city that regularises irregular development because it is not a good practice in contemporary urban planning,” he said.
Cllr Mafume also said the increase in illegal settlements was affecting development in Harare.
“The Judiciary Services Commission wants to institute three courts in Harare and we provided them with land for court space.
“To my surprise, we have discovered that some people have occupied land we have allocated to the Judiciary Service Commission to construct courts.
“Demolition of structures is the last option after exhausting all other avenues,” he said. — H-Metro.
