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Maxwell Tapatapa Herald Reporter
Harare City Council will inject $500 000 for the refurbishment of the Glen View Area 8 home industry complex which was gutted by another fire last week.

Harare Mayor Councillor Herbert Gomba revealed the package after touring the complex to assess the damage caused by the fire.

Addressing entrepreneurs at the premises, Cllr Gomba said the money will be drawn from the beer levy to refurbish and expand the complex which has been razed by fire at least 13 times in the past three years.

“It is our belief that this place is overcrowded and we need to expand the area,” he said. “There is need to put a system that allows fire to be extinguished easily whenever it starts.”

Cllr Gomba urged the city’s Glen View district officer, Mr Kudakwashe Mupingashato, to work closely with the small to medium enterprises at the complex, which is dominated by informal furniture manufacturers.

“We want to create a place where furniture is made and sold in an orderly manner,” he said. “People will be moved gradually into proper places as we construct the area.”

The fire was the second inside three days after another fire destroyed property worth thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, our correspondent Victor Maphosa reports that the city council has entered into a partnership with Zambuko Properties for the development of a new cemetery in Eyestone suburb.

Harare’s finance and development committee noted that the resolution to engage Zambuko was made after the city ran out of burial space at Warren Hills Cemetery.

“On December 4, the education, health, housing and community services and licensing committee (Item 26) had recommended to council to authorise the Town Clerk to enter into negotiations with Zambuko Properties on the development of a new cemetery site in Eyestone,” read minutes from the meeting.

The committee stated that Harare City Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Zambuko Trust, after the latter had made an application to the city through the Director of Housing and Community Services for a joint venture in the development of the new cemetery.

“Zambuko Properties will use its own financial resources to develop the infrastructure at the new cemetery for the city and in return the company would get 50 percent of undeveloped land for the development of its own cemetery,” read the minutes.