DEAR Editor,-
I am occasionally prompted to write to the press and have been mulling over whether I should wade in on the Masinenge settlement and development discussion.
Residents were able to watch the first three new blocks being built by the municipality from the R61. The actual construction work seemed to take a while and there appeared to be a few hiccups along the way. Eventually it was reported that the units were ready and shortly thereafter there was a splash in the press about the fact that they had been handed over to deserving citizens.
My query and gripe is that those units have not been completed.
Why was no landscaping done? Why no paving? Why no lawn? Why have no trees been planted? I’m assuming that the families who moved into the complex were either indigent or were living in poverty. Surely it must have been obvious to the powers-that-be that these residents were never going to be in a position to carry the cost of paving and such? When you live from hand to mouth there is never anything left over at the end of the month.
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With the rain come floods. Were no stormwater drains installed? It looks like there are weeds growing everywhere. And no water tanks are visible – although hopefully these have been tucked away somewhere out of sight.
Then of course there is the sewage problem. Two large tanks acting as either conservancy or septic tanks for in excess of 20 households? We run a B&B with six rooms and have a 10 000 litre conservancy tank. This has to be emptied at least once a week (six rooms with a maximum of 15 guests).
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No private developer would get an Occupation Certificate if the conservancy/septic tank or sewerage system was not in place and working properly. I believe there could be another 20 or more blocks of flats being built.
Where is the sewage from these units going to go to?
Is there going to be a treatment plant for the complex? If this is the case, why was the treatment plant not built and installed before construction on the units started?
LIZ PAGE
Southbroom
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