Midlands Hotel Among 60 Gweru Buildings Set For Demolition
Gweru City Council Acting Town Clerk, Vakai Chikwekwe has said Midlands Hotel is among 60 buildings in Gweru Central Business District (CBD) facing demolition if they are not renovated by March 2023, Masvingo Mirror reported.
The dilapidated Midlands Hotel is owned by Gweru Mayor Hamutendi Kombai.
Chikwekwe made the remarks during a meeting held at the Town House recently saying the local government authority will not hesitate to demolish buildings with structural defects. He said:
The owners of dilapidated buildings and those in neglected state are required in terms of Section 35 of the Act as read with Chapter 2 (Section 48 and 49) of the Model Building By-laws to take the necessary corrective measures as regards to face-lifting or sprucing up within a period of three months from the date of this advert.
We have been approached by various stakeholders with complains that our buildings are in a bad state. Most of them are generally not being maintained making them inhabitable and not fit for operations.
It is a requirement at law for us as a local authority to make sure that the owners of these buildings have addressed the anomalies within three months.
Chikwekwe said they have summoned the owners of these buildings and told them to take corrective measures.
He added that buildings with structural defects will be demolished adding “there is no going back on that.”
Midlands Hotel was built in 1927 by the Meikles brothers. Ownership changed to the Southern Sun Hotel Private Limited in the 1970s before transferring to the late Patrick Kombayi in the 80s.
