Africa-Press – Namibia. KATIMA Mulilo CEO Raphael Liswaniso says the town needs about N$250 million to ensure their sewage problems are a thing of the past.
The town has been battling reoccurring sewage overflows for years, which the town council attributes to old infrastructure. Liswaniso, during an interview with The Namibian yesterday, noted that currently they have completed the re-routing of the sewerage network with N$9 million in funds allocated for the 2020/21 financial year, but still need about N$250 million to completely revamp the town’s sewerage system.
“We would need so much because the pipelines are passing between residential plots, and for us to replace these broken pipes, we have to excavate within people’s houses. We will have to break down people’s walls, fences or interlocks among other things, to fix these pipes.
“If we happen to have such a budget, we will also be able to reroute these pipes to accessible points whereby we will be able to fix them easily,” he said.
Liswaniso said despite the rerouting which they just completed, they are still in a deficit of N$2,5 million to ensure the re-routing of sewerage networks is efficient.
He also added that they are now busy cleaning the pumps blocked by foreign objects which do not belong in sewerage lines, such as nappies, animal skins, condoms, stones, maize bags, bottles and bones, among other things.
“We discovered 10 cubic tonnes of foreign rubbish at pump seven when we were cleaning it. I really do not understand why people feel the need to throw in their rubbish in the sewerage system,” he said.
“In February 2022, we will launch an awareness campaign whereby we will educate the residents about keeping the sewage lines clean of foreign objects, as well as health issues related to improper hygiene which occurs as a result of sewage overflowing,” he said.
He also revealed that the town has about 25 pumps, though four of them are malfunctioning because the designers in the past did not consider sewage pressure.
The re-elected town mayor, Lister Shamalaza, during his swearing-in remarks recently noted that for the 2021/22 financial year, the line minister Erastus Uutoni approved their N$150 million budget.
Shamalaza revealed that they plan to construct public toilets at Choto location, of which one is already completed, while the other will be done during the next financial year.
“Similarly, five toilets will be constructed in Cowboy location next year, pending the availability of funds from donors. In collaboration with the relevant stakeholders, we have managed to construct water networks in the newly created Nova informal settlement,” he said.
Shamalaza further noted that despite these successes, they are still faced with numerous challenges such as lack of finances, human resources, earth moving equipment for the construction of roads, support from the local business community, serviced land for investors and the community, and land grabbing.
In addition, there are vandalism of council infrastructure by the community, mushrooming of illegal shebeens at the town and illegal construction of properties around town.
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