adminWalter Nyamukondiwa : Chinhoyi Bureau
Chirundu Local Board has begun a second wave of demolitions targeting illegal shacks in the “Baghdad” area where 1 000 people are living in squalid conditions. The holding area has no toilets and bathing facilities, which poses a health risk as people use nearby bushes to relieve themselves and, the bucket system at night.Chirundu Local Board secretary Mr Wilson Gunhe, confirmed the development saying more than half of the shacks had so far been demolished.
“We are now halfway through demolishing illegal structures in Baghdad so that all people move to newly established residential areas,” he said.
“Some of the affected people have been given residential stands of their own and have been allowed to build houses.”
The board had given people with undeveloped stands up to August 15 to build or erect cabins while they wait for council to put up proper structures.
Mr Gunhe said the situation could not be left unattended to, as Chirundu bore the scars of a cholera outbreak that killed hundreds of people in 2008.
Baghdad, he said was a ticking health time bomb that threatened the lives of thousands of people in the border town.
The location, where shacks mushroomed, was earmarked for the construction of churches. Only one church has build structures, with the rest taking turns to use Chirundu School classrooms.
Mr Gunhe said Chirundu was not going to allow the mushrooming of any illegal structures as the town interfaced with the rest of the world.
Tenants in Baghdad pay between $10 and $15 per month and this has made the area attractive for commercial sex workers who prey on haulage truck drivers at the busy port.
Online Reporter