Online Reporter
Sikhulekelani Moyo
Zimpapers Business Hub
THE Urban Councils Act must be urgently amended to allow for high-rise buildings, as the current two-storey legal limit may leave future generations without land for housing, a Government senior official has said.
Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda made the call to preserve scarce land.
Speaking on the sidelines of a two-day capacity building workshop on National Budget Analysis, Adv Mudenda said the existing legal provisions no longer suited Zimbabwe’s rapid urbanisation and population growth.
“The current Urban Councils Act allows for two-storey buildings only, which means that if we follow that Act to its letter and spirit, eventually, in the next 50 years, we may not have sufficient land to build houses,” he said.
“It is critical and very urgent that the Urban Councils Act be amended to allow urban councils and rural district growth points to build aquas, skyscrapers.
And in so doing, they will be serving land for posterity.
“If we don’t do that, we use all the land now; 50 years down the line, and the younger people may not find any land to use for the construction of their shelter.”
Adv Mudenda said vertical development would help conserve land and ensure sustainable urban expansion, particularly in cities and growth points where demand for residential and commercial space continues to rise.
Adv Mudenda also urged Government and local authorities to reconsider road construction methods, noting that several countries have shifted from asphalt to brick paving.
“The other area is the construction industry.
“Several countries, if not several countries, have moved away from the use of asphalt to construct roads. They use bricks. It’s cheaper, more durable,” he said.
He said adopting brick roads would help the Government conserve resources and spread the national budget further.
“And that will help the Government to be more conservative in trying to increase its resource and revenue envelope and be able to spread whatever they collect after taxation for other areas of need in the National Development Agenda.
“The workshop, attended by Members of Parliament, focused on building capacity to analyse the national budget, with an emphasis on pro-poor spending, equitable disbursements, and oversight of public funds, in line with Section 190 (3) of the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act.
This resonates with the “Build Better Vertically” national housing policy initiative led by the Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities, Daniel Garwe, focused on constructing multi-story blocks of flats instead of single-family ground houses.
The policy preserves valuable agricultural land and stops urban sprawl by optimising land use. It also reduces the high cost of rolling out long stretches of roads, water pipes and sewer lines.
It may help resolve challenges posed by massive housing backlogs and overcrowding in urban and rural settlements across all ten provinces.
The policy combines “building better forward” (new high-rises) with “building better backward” (refurbishing older run-down).
