News / National
Government freezes land allocation
27 Jan 2016 at 11:04hrs | Views
GOVERNMENT has put a freeze on allocating of land to land developers as it is concerned with mushrooming of illegal settlements.
Local Government minister Christopher Chingosho on Tuesday told journalists that government was now working with local authorities to bring sanity to the housing sector.
"Let me at this point reiterate that government has instituted a moratorium on all and allocations to so-called land developers and as policy, going forward shall be utilising the Urban Development Corporation for all development on state land.
Harare has been rocked my demolition of houses built on land which government says was illegally allocated.
Government have been sucked into the Arlington Estate saga where Harare City Council is demolishing houses built on land reserved for the expansion of Harare International Airport. An estimated 60 houses were demolished in a bid to bring order to the Arlington area.
Most of the residents of Arlington have since moved to Stoneridge where a re-allocation exercise has been put in place by Government.
A section of residents have however opted to stay in Arlington claiming they have been purposefully overlooked while some residents say they cannot move to Stoneridge because of financial challenges.
Other residents claim the re-allocation process has been marred by corruption through double allocations.
Local Government minister Christopher Chingosho on Tuesday told journalists that government was now working with local authorities to bring sanity to the housing sector.
"Let me at this point reiterate that government has instituted a moratorium on all and allocations to so-called land developers and as policy, going forward shall be utilising the Urban Development Corporation for all development on state land.
Harare has been rocked my demolition of houses built on land which government says was illegally allocated.
Most of the residents of Arlington have since moved to Stoneridge where a re-allocation exercise has been put in place by Government.
A section of residents have however opted to stay in Arlington claiming they have been purposefully overlooked while some residents say they cannot move to Stoneridge because of financial challenges.
Other residents claim the re-allocation process has been marred by corruption through double allocations.
Source - Online
