Africa-Press – Namibia. Deputy Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele recently officially launched three land development activities and housing construction projects at Otjiwarongo.
The projects, under the Municipality of Otjiwarongo, were launched at the Extension 16 site, where the water reticulation programme and the laying of pipelines are being conducted by the Otjiwarongo Municipality’s land development partner, the Development Workshop Namibia (DWN).
The digging of trenches by the DWN started on 2 May this year at the periphery informal settlement of Otjiwarongo.
“The DWN is expected to spend more than N$4.5 million in land servicing only for Extension 16 and 17,” said Nawases-Taeyele.
She said at the beginning of this year, the Otjiwarongo Municipality allocated a portion of land to the Shack Dwellers’ Federation of Namibia (SDFN), to enable its 204 members in the town to build houses for themselves.
Citing this example, Nawases-Taeyele urged all local authority councils in the country to donate land to the federation, as it has proven on many occasions to be a reliable housing development partner.
The Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) also pledged to spend N$6.5 million on development at Extension 24 and 25, where a total of 100 houses are set to be constructed starting this year.
“Your government has a big plan to abolish the use of bushes when nature calls in towns, including the reduction in shacks in this country.
Therefore, let us upgrade the types of houses we have in the informal settlements to standard brick houses with the little funds available,” she said.
Otjiwarongo mayor Gottlieb Shivute said a total of 4 000 plots and houses should be delivered by these three land development and housing partners between 2025 and 2026.
“The planning for the three projects started in 2018 and was completed in 2020, and it is now the delivery of services we are waiting to see,” he said.
Otjiwarongo has a population of about 54 000 residents.
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