Should existing urban areas continue to expand boundaries?

IT is my strong conviction that not every piece of land is for housing development. There are other competing uses of land other than housing development. Zimbabwe is an agro-based economy. Our industrialisation is predominantly agro-driven. The raw materials are mostly from agricultural and allied products.

Zimbabwe has five agricultural regions. Region 1, 2 and 3 receive the most rains in the country, and are suitable for crops, covering mostly the northern regions such as Manicaland, Mashonaland and parts of Midlands. Regions 4 and 5 receive minimal rains and cover some parts of Masvingo and the whole of Matabeleland and are mainly suitable for animal husbandry and wildlife.

Already, the latter are principally tourist destinations. Hwange and Gonarezhou National Parks come to the fore. Additionally, the Great Dyke is a Special Economic Zone as it carries the bulk of the country’s minerals, and the

Mines and Minerals Act takes precedence over any other economic activity. I remember at one of the housing conferences where one delegate metaphorically intimated that, “if the Minister of Mines and Mining Development discovers gold in your nose, he/she has the legal right to blow your nose”.

Our towns and cities were cited as growth nodes driven mostly by agriculture, mining and tourism. They were strategically located along the major highways and railway in order to conveniently transport the outputs.

Think of Harare, Bulawayo, Chegutu, Karoi, Gweru, Rusape, Norton and Marondera, just to mention but a few. These growth nodes were upgraded and represent the urban councils.

However, all the urban councils share boundaries with rural councils, from which these growth nodes were carved. There are clearly marked boundaries between the rural district councils and the urban councils.

The urban council has the latitude to expand boundaries into the rural district councils, but it cannot be vice-versa, where the rural district councils cannot expand boundaries into the urban councils.

Again, a rural district council cannot expand boundaries into another rural district council. It therefore places the urban councils at a comparative advantage over their rural councils’ counterparts, and mainly play big brother.

The urban councils identify land for urban expansion from the surrounding rural district councils. I remember when I was still in school, I hardly carried any pocket money to buy a pack of maputi and a freezits, so my two friends could buy theirs, and they would unanimously agree to share with me.

So I could get a half share from each one of them, and by the end of the day, I would cumulatively have a bigger share than them, but it was all fine and we were all comfortable with that tripartite arrangement, in the spirit of “one love”. The same goes for urban councils, they can rotate 360°, biting swaths of land from the surrounding rural councils for urban expansion. Once the rural or agricultural land is acquired for urban expansion, it is incorporated into the existing boundaries of the urban setup.

Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo is on record intimating that the country, since 2000, has gobbled close to 45 000 hectares of arable land to pave way for housing development and urban expansion.

Harare is situated on prime land, and receives normal to above normal rainfall. The city is expanding into Goromonzi, Mazowe and Zvimba rural district councils. The land is characterised by some black or red loam soils which typify the prime land that can sustain the country’s agricultural sector, combined with the amount of rainfall received in these areas, we are depleting the reserves of all the arable land in the country.

Lupane is situated on vast tracts of forestry-land which produces some of the finest teak wood in the region. Chinhoyi is surrounded by fertile soils and receives good rains as well.

Karoi is surrounded by agricultural land ideal for tobacco. Banket is equally surrounded by good agricultural land, but is fast urbanising. A snap survey of all these urban centres paints a gloomy picture.

There is a turf war between agriculture and housing, and from the look of things, the former is staring a huge defeat if urban sprawl is not curbed. Kariba and Victoria Falls are situated in vast national parks, and there are cases of housing-wildlife conflict. The Zimbabwe National Parks has tried its best to reduce the confrontation between the two, but both Kariba and Victoria Falls are still expanding.

Save for the aviation zones, only Victoria Falls has height restrictions in a bid to preserve nature. The rest of the country has no height restrictions in terms of construction.

If one looks at Rusape town for instance, there is a carpet of houses. The same goes for Chivhu, Macheke and Bulawayo, to mention but a few. But what is mind-boggling is the question that, to what extent should Chinhoyi Municipality continue to expand?

This question was once posed at one of the policy consultations with stakeholders in the built environment, one of the delegates confidently responded that it can stretch to join with Lion’s Den. Should Harare join with Norton or Marondera, all in the name of housing development? Should Bulawayo join with Umguza, or Gwanda join with Esigodini, or Gweru join with Kwekwe? Is urban sprawl sustainable?