Thursday, March 28, 2024

LCC to go for residential houses turned into business premises

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The Lusaka City Council (LCC) has urged members of the public to cooperation with it in order for it to carry out its duties effectively.

LCC Public Relations manager Chanda Makanta said the local authority has been facing a lot of challenges in discharging its duties effectively because some members of the public were not cooperative.

Mrs. Makanta said people that have been using residential plots for commercial purposes and those who build more than one house on one plot without verifying with the council have posed serious challenges to the local authority.

She told ZANIS that building more than one house on a single plot without the council’s permission is illegal.
She said people who are involved in such practices must be ready to face consequences.

Mrs. Makanta disclosed that LCC has embarked on a re-evaluation exercise to ensure that culprits pay rates for the additional houses or lose their houses through demolition.

She added that those who would be found trading in residential places must be found with a valid trading licence failure to which the council would demolish their property.

She noted that although there is lack of employment, people should find legal means of earning an income other than violating council laws.

Mrs. Makanta observed that LCC may not have the capacity to take note of every activity and has therefore appealed to members of the public to report anything sinister to the council.

ZANIS

15 COMMENTS

  1. …actually we have been waiting for you to valuate these residential areas so that we pay rates, and stop threatening people with money chanda, wheather we are found to have buils 2 houses on one plot , we will pay the council and in turn you should start servicing these areas…..you r.a.t!

  2. As with everything in Zed, this whole process will be selective. If you do not have strings within the council be rest assured the demolition team is coming your way.

  3. LCC – first please demolish illegal structures on other people’s land in Lusaka West and Ibex Hill and show you are above politics.

  4. Hear hear go for it. But the counil should actually encourage more busineeses in Rhodes park and Northmead by raising rates for residential areas. They should also enhance their planning function in this regard by regulating the building standards.

  5. Hear hear go for it. But the council should actually encourage more busineses in Rhodes park and Northmead by raising rates for residential properties They should also enhance their planning function in this regard by regulating the building standards e,g. giving incentives for more than single storey buildings.

  6. Yeah ! Like that place in nyumba yanga called JM i wonder whether it is still there, where one would sample the fruits of a sweet 12 or a sweet 14 over a bottle of castle.I understand that the place was intended for a house but instead used to sell alcohol to spoiled brats from woodlands and other nearby areas(sweet under 16`s).

  7. # 7-I guess that was a whole hell of child abuse at that place but whom can be blamed when the place kept on running despite complaits from neighbours

  8. chanda just make people pay 4 extra property built on same plot instead of issueing threats .do not waste your time demolishing peoples property you shall decampaign mmd.do not make zambians suffer 4 nothing laws can always be changed at any time

  9. In Kamwala, Lusaka, a house was turned into a bar. I have a grandma living just 2 houses away. The bar was so noisy and was open almost 24/7. It was such a nuisence to residents, yet LCC did nothing. That bar could still be operating. I wonder what kind of tradinng regulations LCC have. How do you grant a licence to some trader to turn a residential house into a bar. Mind boggling.

  10. LCC should target the houses that have perfected the art of shabeenary not other businesses. This is because even selling iceblocks or freeze-it’s can be construed as a commercial activity. Certain business should be permitted so long as they don’t affect the quality of life in one’s neighbourhood

  11. LCC is did it’s job every building in Lusaka would have paid rates,the would have been nicer roads and better sewage and drainage system for the whole city.All you have in Zed are big mouths at LCC and a city with the worst city services

  12. LCC agree with n°. 13. How easy its to have a stand at your market called new soweto market? And how easy its to get a trading licence? Some few days ago you were in court over the stall of new soweto market what happened? Allow the people to do business wherever they want and it will be cheaper and no transport cost.

  13. They must be careful with such a move. Poverty is rife in our country and the government must not stop people from making a living anyway they can in ways that benefit the community e.g. turning a house into a community school, a restaurant etc. Of course I agree that things like bars/ shabeens may have to be regulated. Further, our councils seem to detach the collection of rates from their responsibility to use those rates to improve our communities. That is the whole point of us paying rates. Yet, in the 24 years I have lived in my neighbourhood, the so-called road outside my house has disintegrated and become a stony dust mound after MMD’s pre-election vote-garnering job and rubbish remains uncollected. What are they doing apart from spending our rates on their hefty salaries?

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