Matola Municipality may penalise owners of illegally constructed buildings

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Matola Municipality may penalise owners of illegally constructed buildings

4:00 CAT | 11 Dec 2019

Photo: O País

The number of illegal buildings in Matola is reaching worrying proportions. Municipal authorities do not have accurate figures, but know that there are many, and that correcting the situation is a matter of urgency. The buildings include dwellings and real estate developments built in rail and road exclusion areas.

Currently, a notification and awareness campaign targeted at the owners of these buildings is under way.

For the municipality of Matola, illegality resides in those buildings constructed without proper documentation or authorisation, including the demarcation of plots. There are buildings erected in railroad and road exclusion areas, such as a shopping complex visited by O País.

“We are going to enforce the law. The law says that you can’t build right beside a road, and the city is growing. You can’t build without a license, and where that happens, you have to penalise that person. But right now, the municipality’s goal is not to penalise but to raise awareness,” Matola Municipal Council deputy spokesman Noé Muchanga said.

One of the major challenges is compliance with notifications by those targeted.

“We have already notified these people, but they have not complied, and because we are also incapable of enforcement, what we are going to do is allow them to make corrections. Because they were told not to build on illegal sites but they disobeyed and continued to build.”

The municipality says it will intervene in the sale of a 15m by 30m plot bordering National Road Number 4. ‘O País’ established that the land in question is being sold for 13 million meticais.

The campaign aimed at sensitising citizens to the regularisation of constructions and buildings was launched last week and will run until January 2020.

By Amândio Borges

Source: O País