Govt occupies illegal premises at Commerce Park

NICHOLAS MOKWENA
Correspondent | Thursday May 24, 2012 00:00

The SEDC says it has contacted the government Department of Lands over the offices in premises that have been illegally converted from light industrial use to commercial use. Some of these changes were done in properties whose owners had unsuccessfully applied for change of land use. The GICP is a light industrial area. Though mistaken to be part of Gaborone, GICP is in the South East District and lies on land owned by the Catholic Church.

In September 2010, the SEDC tasked its Town and Country Planning Board to carry out an investigative study of land use problems at GICP. The audit found that the subdivision and industrial land use zoning of GICP was approved by the Town and Country Planning Board in 1997. Since then, many plots in GICP have significantly undergone varying degrees of 'change of land use' from industrial to commercial through encroachment of mainly distributor offices. The audit revealed that some property owners at GICP had in the past made attempts to change land use from industrial to commercial for purposes of operating commercial offices but these were rejected.

'These, however, were rejected by the Town and Country Planning Board (TCPB) and the main reason was that Kgale was a planned area and that the plan has adequately made provisions for offices at Gaborone International Finance Park, thereby negating any justifications for such change of land use. The 'same' property owners' appropriately submitted fresh applications for development of industrial units (warehouses, storage units) on their plots and these applications were therefore approved (with individual units labelled appropriately to comply with the zoning of the area). However, after approval of the same, property owners and some tenants knowingly (as reflected by rejection letters from TCPB) and illegally effected partitions on their properties, which were later let out as offices,' states the audit report.

It was discovered by inspectors on site that during the illegal partitioning that changed use from industrial into 'offices' that the 15 percent rule of ancillary use (as per the Development Control Code of 1995) was not followed.

Therefore, office space increased significantly above the allowable 15 percent (with some properties even reaching 100 percent). The report states that this constituted illegal change of land use from industrial to commercial. The SEDC and later the TCPB realised that property owners were effecting the same change that TCPB had denied them through the initial rejection of change of land use.

On average, SEDC receives 10 enquiries, including applications for zoning reports at GICP on a daily basis. About 80 percent of these enquiries are for non-industrial operations/businesses. These include distributor licences (a majority of which just require office space), restaurant licences and butchery licences. (SILA Press Agency)