Construction of Safarao Road in Ndirande Township, Blantyre has created some controversy and panic among residents as some feel to have been taken unawares by the commencement of the project.<\/p>\n
The major issues raging are about compensation and subsequent relocation. Information gathered so far is that some people who were living where the road is meant to pass were compensated 15 years ago and relocated. However, since the project did not commence at the time, the former occupants started selling the land to some people thinking the road project had stalled for good.<\/p>\n
Now that the road construction has started, the people who are now occupying the place cannot be compensated by the government since the process was already done with the original occupants.<\/p>\n
Most of the occupants have had their houses demolished to pave the way for the road which is connecting Makheta and Ndirande-Chinseu Roads through Group Village Headman Matope\u2019s area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe compensation packages were settled a long ago, about some 15 to 20 years ago. Some of those seeking compensation settled on the land after the payment already made to previous occupants. Again some of those claiming compensation do not know the history of their land. The land might have exchanged hands after the compensation was already paid,\u201d Banaba Kaliwo, a resident of the township said.<\/p>\n
Though some said their compensation was already settled, others, such as Fiona Kwenda, claim she did not received any money for compensation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where I was born; my parents have lived here since time immemorial. I was old enough when the compensation was being made, but I can challenge you we were not given any money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The other complaint the residents are making is that the construction work has started during the rainy season and people who have been forced to relocate have had their property destroyed, thus being rendered destitute.<\/p>\n
Blantyre City Council spokesperson, Anthony Kasunda, said the council settled all compensation claims long ago.<\/p>\n
He said the problem could have been the holders of some of the plots facing demolition do not have history of their residences.<\/p>\n
\u201cChances are initial owners of the plots did not communicate when selling the plots to the current holders the truth of the matter. But if the residents have genuine grounds, we are open to discuss with them,\u201d Kasunda said.<\/p>\n
However, Kasunda recommended that all issues relating to the matter should be addressed to ward councillors.<\/p>\n
The 1.3 kilometres road is being constructed to the tune of K242 million by Tahit Networking Constructions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Construction of Safarao Road in Ndirande Township, Blantyre has created some controversy and panic among residents as some feel to have been taken unawares by the commencement of the project. The major issues raging are about compensation and subsequent relocation. Information gathered so far is that some people who were living where the road is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42078,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42075\/revisions\/42078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}