News / Local
West Park cemetery to re-open in Bulawayo
06 Dec 2016 at 07:43hrs | Views
West Park cemetery in Bulawayo is set to re-open as additional space which can accommodate close to 7000 casket graves has been curved out, Bulawayo24.com reveals.
The cemetery closed after it ran out of burial space.
However, council has converted space that was reserved for funeral parlours, offices and related infrastructure.
According to a latest council report released today (Tuesday), the local authority said a survey indicated that the space could accommodate roughly 7000 casket graves.
"At the current rate of around 300 burials per month, the space might take up to 24 months to fill up.
"It must be noted that all cemetery infrastructure is already in place (offices, ablution facilities, water, etc.) Clearing of the area had already started.
"Parceling out of the land into sections providing drainage and access roads was expected to be completed by the end of November 2016, thus making it possible to commence burials by the beginning of December 2016" reads part of the report.
Council said the additional space would give it "breathing space in which to bring Marvel cemetery on-stream".
The additional space would take approximately two years to fill up at the current rate of 300 burials per month, council said.
The development comes at a time when the municipality has said the New Luveve cemetery, which was the only one functioning for the past months was seriously congested.
In July, the Government gazetted Marvel cemetery near Mahatshula suburb and Pumula South suburb cemetery following the closure of West Park Cemetery at the end of May.
The city has been depending on New Luveve cemetery, but burials there have been expensive for some as they had to travel for about 25km to bury their loved ones.
Council said partial clearing at Marvel Cemetery had been done 'the issue of accessing it either off the Harare road or from across the railway line had not been resolved up to now'.
The cemetery closed after it ran out of burial space.
However, council has converted space that was reserved for funeral parlours, offices and related infrastructure.
According to a latest council report released today (Tuesday), the local authority said a survey indicated that the space could accommodate roughly 7000 casket graves.
"At the current rate of around 300 burials per month, the space might take up to 24 months to fill up.
"It must be noted that all cemetery infrastructure is already in place (offices, ablution facilities, water, etc.) Clearing of the area had already started.
"Parceling out of the land into sections providing drainage and access roads was expected to be completed by the end of November 2016, thus making it possible to commence burials by the beginning of December 2016" reads part of the report.
The additional space would take approximately two years to fill up at the current rate of 300 burials per month, council said.
The development comes at a time when the municipality has said the New Luveve cemetery, which was the only one functioning for the past months was seriously congested.
In July, the Government gazetted Marvel cemetery near Mahatshula suburb and Pumula South suburb cemetery following the closure of West Park Cemetery at the end of May.
The city has been depending on New Luveve cemetery, but burials there have been expensive for some as they had to travel for about 25km to bury their loved ones.
Council said partial clearing at Marvel Cemetery had been done 'the issue of accessing it either off the Harare road or from across the railway line had not been resolved up to now'.
Source - Byo24News
