Glen View Area 8 Complex fire: Govt fast-tracks reconstruction 

Source: Glen View Area 8 Complex fire: Govt fast-tracks reconstruction – herald

Remember Deketeke-Municipal Correspondent

AFTER yet another devastating fire yesterday in Glen View Area 8 Home Industry, Government plans to fast-track the reconstruction and reorganisation of the complex, with efforts now underway to restore water and electricity.

The Glen View Area 8 Home Industry Complex in Harare has suffered at least 14 devastating fire outbreaks over the last two decades, causing cumulative losses exceeding US$3 million.

The complex serves as a vital economic lifeline for thousands of families and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).

Civil Protection Unit chief director Mr Nathan Nkomo outlined the double requirement in an interview after touring the fire-ravaged complex yesterday.

“We are here together with the highest level of provincial leadership at this complex and whatever sentiments they express here become policy because we recommend that to Cabinet,” said Mr Nkomo.

“We need to quickly address the issues of water and the issues of electricity so that reconstruction efforts at Glen View Area 8 can begin without delay.

The charred stalls and collapsed structures at the complex.

“Cabinet has already made a decision that we must come up with a structured plan for this place and we are now moving to expedite that process together with provincial leadership, investors and other stakeholders.”

The move comes after a fire  destroyed property and goods yesterday morning, in what is believed to be one of the worst disasters to hit the country’s informal manufacturing sector in recent years.

Hundreds of traders were left counting losses following the inferno.

At the site yesterday, a strong smell of smoke still hung heavily over the complex, while blackened zinc sheets, twisted metal and burnt furniture lay scattered across the area.

Some traders stood silently beside the remains of their workshops, staring in despair at the destruction caused by the blaze.

Firefighters assess the damage at the Glen View Area 8 complex yesterday. – Pictures: Munyaradzi Vunganai.

Harare City Council Small and Medium Enterprises Committee chairperson Councillor Denford Ngadziore said affected traders would be temporarily relocated to Chemhanza Grounds pending the completion of administrative processes.

“In the meantime, we have identified Chemhanza Grounds as the place where these people are supposed to be relocated,” he said.

“However, the relocation cannot happen immediately because we are yet to finalise issues relating to development approvals.”

Clr Ngadziore said council procedures were the only outstanding issues delaying the relocation exercise.

“There are council procedures which we are supposed to follow and that is where the delay is coming from,” he said. Reconstruction works at the complex would commence while traders operate from the temporary site.

Mr Robert Mhangarai, one of the stallholders who lost property in the blaze, said there were suspicions that the it could have been started deliberately.

“On Saturday, around 6pm, we were chased away by dogs from this area and we suspected that there were people who wanted to do something here,” he said.

“Today, we have lost everything. We are appealing to Government to institute a forensic investigation so that the perpetrators of such crimes can be exposed.”

The chairman of the stallholders Mr Collins Chibhema, said the fire had destroyed goods belonging to hundreds of traders who used the complex as a central storage facility.

“I received a call around 2am informing me that the whole area had been engulfed by fire and nothing had been left,” he said.

“This complex was the warehouse for almost all traders. After people finished making their products, they brought them here for storage and everything was burnt.”

Another trader, who declined to be named, alleged that she had been threatened by a member of the Glen View Area 8 Home Industry Cooperative shortly before the fire broke out.

“That man wanted US$20 from me yesterday even after I had paid all my taxes and levies,” she said.

“When I refused, he threatened me and this morning I came back only to find everything burned out.”

Authorities are yet to establish the cause of the fire, while investigations are continuing.