via Hre residents told to uproot crops – NewZimbabwe 31/01/2016
HARARE CITY COUNCIL says it has begun servicing residential stands as part of its broader mission to provide decent and affordable housing and warns residents who planted maize in designated areas to uproot their crops immediately.
Most people in urban areas plant maize in open spaces as means of supplementing their food stocks.
Harare City Council’s principal communications officer Michael Chideme said residents who have planted their maize crop in St Martin’s residential stands, Airport road and near the Catholic University will have to remove their crops or risk having them slashed down.
“Council is engaging residents who planted maize on the land educating them on the project and advising them to remove their crops to clear the land for development.
“The only crops that will be affected are those that are on spaces targeted for construction. This means the residents will be able to harvest the bulk of their crop,” Chideme said.
According to the council, the first project involves 234 stands and includes church, commercial, home industry and parking space.
Chideme said this will have been done by next week as the equipment will be deployed to the area to open roads, dig water and sewer lines in preparation for the stand holders to move in and start construction.
“Stands for the first phase numbering up to 86 have already been sold while the remainder will be sold as servicing takes place. Servicing of residential stands is part of the city’s mandate which it had temporarily stopped due to economic difficulties. However due to public demand, the mandate has been resuscitated,” he said.
Government says it has stopped dealing with housing cooperatives who have largely been fleecing residents without providing them adequate services.
The council also says more land has been identified for servicing with the municipality targeting to service not less than 3 000 stands each year and to build not less than 1 000 housing units yearly.
“These figures exclude houses built by corporates, individuals and property developers,” Chideme said.
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