Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Hardap Regional Council is planning to embark on agricultural projects to raise more revenue since the government is not providing enough money for capital projects in the region.
This is according to the chairperson of the regional council, Gershon Dausab.
“The central government knows we can only execute what they are giving in terms of finances and capital projects through the National Planning Commission,” Dausab recently said.
He said the amount allocated only accumulates more debt for the council.
“If you start a project which is N$3 million, yet you only get N$1 million, how do you start that project? So, the next financial year you still owe N$2 million, and then the next year you are again given another million dollars,” he said.
He added it creates a bad track record with service providers.
“So, what we are trying to do is to raise revenue …”
The region’s planned agricultural project will focus on urban farming for which the council has already applied for 1 000 hectares of land at the Kalkrand Village Council.
“Kalkrand is struggling. So, if the land is leased by the Kalkrand Village Council and not sold, we could help the village council together with, for instance, the World Food Programme, and whoever wants to come on board to help with urban farming.”
The project is set to kick off later this year.
The regional council is also negotiating with the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) to reduce the price of houses for those earning low wages in the region.
To achieve this, the regional council aims to service land and give it to residents for free, enabling the NHE to only build the infrastructure.
The budget of the regional council is nearly N$70 million, Dausab said.
“About 60% to 70% of that amount goes into operations,” he said.
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