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THE City of Harare has only allocated 93 stands since January this year against a target of 5 000 by December.
The capital only has SIX fire tenders, out of an ideal total of 25, and only FOUR ambulances out of a required total of 32.
This means the City has just an EIGHTH of the total number of ambulances it requires.
Harare Mayor, Jacob Mafume, said they were in the process of engaging the Government to provide more housing land.
“We are aware of the challenges in housing delivery.
“The housing waiting list continues to grow and we have run out of land for housing and industrial development as a city.
“Since January 2022, we managed to allocate a total of 93 residential stands to those on the housing waiting list, which is way below the target of allocating 5 000 stands by December 2022, considering the ballooning housing backlog.
“We are engaging the Government to provide more land for housing in the peripheries of Harare, while the policy on densification will be enforced.”
Mayor Mafume also indicated that regularisation of profiled informal settlements is currently underway for those that meet town planning standards.
“We are very much aware that some businesses are operating illegally, as they have not yet been licenced, and we are calling on them to regularise their operations.
“Informal sector businesses continue to grow and as of June 2022, an estimated 100 000 informal businesses are operating in Harare.
“As a city, we have since rebranded these businesses as Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and we are in the process of providing them with decent trading spaces and encouraging them to regularise their operations by obtaining appropriate trading licences and paying taxes to the Government.”
He said the Council was constructing two informal sector facilities to support the growth of the informal sector.
“We are constructing two informal sector facilities, the Seke Dieppe (Coca-Cola) People Market and Hatcliffe Market.
“We will construct more home industries and a market in each ward.
“We have a wider plan of engaging the Central Government, and other critical stakeholders such as property owners, to utilise some idle business premises to accommodate our SMEs,” Mayor Mafume said.
He said although Council’s response to emergencies in the greater Harare area is within the standard of seven minutes per 10 km radius, emergency services equipment was in a critical state of deterioration.
“We are currently operating with about six fire tenders out of an ideal total of 25 and four ambulances from about 32 required.
Online Reporter