Harare city bosses quizzed over sprouting of fuel stations near homes

By Caleb Chikwawawa

The Commission of Inquiry into the Harare City Council’s administrative affairs on Monday took authorities to task over the proliferation of fuel stations in the middle of residential areas in what has been described constant danger to residents neighbouring the businesses.

Harare Town Planner, Samuel Nyabeze was asked by Thabani Mpofu, the commission’s evidence leader, if at all Town House saw the “mortal danger” to both human life and the environment posed by the “exponential rise in the construction of service stations” next to private homes.

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Mpofu raised concern the spectre of explosions happening if neighbours decide to have braais near leaking underground tanks.

In his response, Nyabeze apportioned blame on the Environmental Management A which Agency he said would have approved the projects through issuance of environmental impact assessment certificates.

Citing a service station in Avondale suburb, Mpofu told the senior city official that some of the projects were merely approved through corruption.

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Nyabeze said the construction of service stations was compliant with local development plans, something that was dismissed by Mpofu who argued it was possible the system was corruptly designed in such a way as to facilitate the controversial projects.

“I wouldn’t agree to the issue of corruption,” said the city official in response.

“Let me say it this way, the local plan for Mabelreign was not funded by the city. Yes, it’s a document by the city which was done by a consultant and the funding came from the private sector.

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“We normally have problems in those situations because the person who comes to fund the plan is going to advance his own interests and at times at the expense of the public.

“It becomes difficult where a document is funded by someone because the chances are that the person who is funding the local plan will indicate to the consultant that ‘I want a service station there and I want another one there’. It becomes difficult sometimes to refuse when such things happen.

“The moment we have private players funding these documents, the chances are that the issue of public interest is going to be compromised. I would want to believe that this is what happened in the Avondale area.”

Mayor Mafume, on his part, said he was equally “shocked” by the irregular construction of service stations in the middle of people’s homes and appeared to blame the rot on the system already introduced by his predecessors made it difficult to stop it.

“I have gone past the place, I’m as shocked as you are. I would agree with you that it is irregular,” said the opposition official.

He added, “Recently, in the last council, we issued a moratorium on all service stations so that we will be able to investigate what is happening.

“Every time I inquire. I am made to understand by our planning department that there is a policy of what they call coming up with development corridors. Now these development corridors allow the owners to then bypass the normal channel of getting those things approved.

“So what business people do, is that they identify an area, say a road which is a through way. They then say ‘we want to have a new area development plan for that area’. Hidden in that consultative process are a lot of things that you can pick as residents because someone sponsored a development plan.”