Way too many fuel stations in Harare: Muguti

THE rate at which fuel stations are being built in Harare is now out of control, former Harare Metropolitan Provincial Affairs and Devolution Permanent Secretary Mr Tafadzwa Muguti noted last year.

Mr Muguti was speaking at a Highlands Residents Association meeting held in August last year where he engaged residents on issues affecting their suburb and surrounding areas.

Mr Muguti said he had noticed the upsurge in the construction of fuel stations and he felt that there were already too many so were billboards going up in the city.

“I am also not a fan of service stations, they are already too many.

“I am not a fan of billboards, they are already too many. But I’m also not fan of service stations, which go into wetlands and other places like what’s going on now. We now have houses which are being turned into service stations. So it’s getting a bit crazy, in fact it’s now crazy, actually,” said Mr Muguti.

He told the meeting that in terms of the regional Town and Country Planning Act there is no development which should be approved without proper engagement with residents and their consent.

Mr Muguti advised residents to also copy the office of the Harare Metropolitan Provincial Affairs and Devolution Permanent Secretary when they write their petitions so that the office can write to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works citing solid reasons why the developments should be stopped.

He said if residents were not consenting to a development in their area and if construction had not started there was no reason why that development should not be stopped.

If the development is not beneficial to the community, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works has the power to stop the development and overturn a council resolution.

“Under the Regional Town and Country Planning Act, there is no development, which should be approved without following engagements with residents. And I can confirm that the bulk of the service stations that we have, either there was no consultation, or petitions did not pass through our offices. So our laws are very rigid in the fact that if the council does an advert, it’s normally this tiny in some way placed in the paper according to the law. They would have ticked the boxes  but we are trying to push for amendments so that at least engagements are more like this with residents like what they do in the communal areas than just putting a small advert in the paper or on Facebook and so on.

“On the (Enterprise) corridor, any petition that the residents say this we don’t want, as long as the developer has not started constructing under the Regional Town and Country Planning Act, that’s enough for that development to be stopped. So essentially, if that petition has been put, please can you forward it to my office?

“And then obviously, we can write to the Minister of Local Government and Public Works. So the Minister of Local Government and Public Works is the only one mandated under the Urban Councils Act to reverse a council resolution. The minister can reverse a resolution based on the pretext that it is not suitable or beneficial to the residents or to the community at large,” said Mr Muguti. This an excerpt of a story Suburban published on August 11, 2023