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Staff Writer
Chinhoyi – The Mashonaland West Provincial capital town, Chinhoyi Municipality has postponed to 31 December 2023 a ban on farm brick use.
Initially, in December 2021, the local authority had set June 30 2022 as the deadline for the farm brick usage for building in the provincial capital in a move that saw residents engaging the city fathers over the issue as they said the ban would inflate the cost of building in the town.
The decision to postpone the ban deadline was made during the local authority’s ordinary full council meeting held recently.
Contributing to the farm brick farm ban suspension argument, councillors said that the farm bricks were easily accessible and affordable to the majority of Chinhoyi residents negatively impacted by the covid-19 induced economic challenges. A majority of stand owners were struggling to purchase even the farm bricks hence housing sector development was slow. A few people afford the required standard bricks whilst the farm brick molding business has created employment for residents.
“As much as we want to create a standardized type of buildings in our town, we need to take note how the people’s incomes were affected by covid and we have these farm bricks readily available for them. I suggest we allow enough time for people to prepare to switch to standard bricks,” Ward 7 councillor, Prosper Mavhunga said.
The ban on farm brick use was informed by the local authority’s aim to eradicate the sprouting illegal stream bank brick molding activities along Hunyani River and other places that are causing land degradation.
Maxwell Kaitano, Chinhoyi Town Clerk said proper brick moulding of standard bricks should be encouraged with details on land conservation practices.
“We have to revisit our council policy on the matter and we need to encourage formalized brick moulding activities that produce the standard bricks we expect. We need to monitor activities so that our environment is protected,” he said.
Ward 1 councilor, Good Sairos suggested stiffer penalties for stream bank brick moulding activities.
The local authority agreed to postpone the ban by a year to December 2023 for building plans approved by 31 December 2021.