Chronicle Editor
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE number of condemned buildings in Bulawayo continues to increase amid revelations that some owners, despite being given orders to renovate have constantly ignored them prompting council authorities to moot the legal route.
Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has over the past months been carrying out consistent building inspections in the Central Business District (CBD) to determine their safety and in the event a hazard is identified, the owners are given notices to fix, failure to which the local authority can also get a court order.
In March the city had identified 107 buildings in the CBD, which figure increased last month to 127 and has since risen to 131.
The city has also witnessed an unprecedented increase in the number of abandoned, neglected and derelict buildings in the CBD.
According to the latest council report, there was no effort to address the hazards identified on 44 of the buildings with some of the owners already risking court action.
“On dilapidated and unsightly buildings, four more buildings that needed attention had been identified and action is being taken as per our procedures.
“The section is in the process of following up on all identified buildings while also issuing out notices on the newly identified,” reads the report.
Some of the buildings where owners have made no attempt to address the anomalies include; Tee Vee Bazaars along Herbert Chitepo Street, Harrods Holdings also along Herbert Chitepo Street, Bravo Limited, Manwell Investments, Modern Motors, Latitude Electrical Investments along Fort Street, St Kildas Flats also along Fort Street and Nungu Engineering.
Rhodesia Railways Contributory Pension Fund building along George Silundika Street is now pending court action together with Jai Hind Properties along Robert Mugabe Way, Prestige Enterprises along Robert Mugabe Way and Bulchem Enterprises along Josiah Tongogara Street.
Meanwhile, the local authority said they would continue to identify illegal structures in the city, issuing them with final notices and charging penalties on defiant illegal developers.
“In May, 16 properties were found to have put up structures without approved plans and of those, 10 were charged with penalties and six were being observed as they had made some indications of complying with our instructions,” reads the report.
As per statutory obligations the local authority issues notices to identified properties and also has latitude in terms of the statutory provisions to carry out such operations to remove the offending danger or nuisance to the public at the cost of the landlord.
BCC also has the authority to repossess such properties as guided by the Titles Registration and Derelict Lands Act (chapter 20:20).
In 2017, the local authority passed a resolution to demolish a building that was burnt down in a fire incident as it now posed a danger to the public, however, the process is still hanging as council awaits a court order to go ahead with the demolition.
The building which is at the corner of 11th Avenue and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Street near Magnet House, is owned by Nicktrend Investments Services and has been vacant for some years.
The Bulawayo City Council’s inspectorate conducts buildings inspections in accordance with the Bulawayo (Building, Roads and Streets) by-laws of 1971.
Online Reporter