Nearly half of water ministry’s budget unspent

The agriculture and water ministry drilled 142 boreholes and constructed 2 078 toilet facilities in 2025/26, but spent only 55.5% of its revised development budget, leaving N$257.4 million unused.According to government’s latest accountability report, the ministry had N$578.8 million available for development expenditure but spent N$321.4 million, with its overall expenditure reaching N$662.4 million against a revised total budget of N$934.3 million.The figures appear under Vote 38: Water in the Consolidated Accountability Report for 2025/26, dated 21 October 2026.The largest shortfall among the ministry’s three water programme areas was recorded under the water supply security programme, which spent N$145.4 million of its N$295.3 million allocation, representing an execution rate of 49%.Water supply and sanitation coordination spent N$364.6 million against an allocation of N$468.8 million, achieving 78% budget execution. Water resource management performed better, spending N$69 million of its N$75.9 million allocation, or 91%.According to the report, 143 boreholes were drilled and 25 rehabilitated, while two borehole pump tests and installations were carried out. The ministry also constructed 59 short pipelines, rehabilitated 26 and repaired 60 existing water points.It further reported 3 458 water connections to individual households, both private and public, and said 87.5% of broken water infrastructure was repaired. A total of 400 preventive maintenance activities were carried out on water supply equipment and infrastructure.On sanitation, the ministry reported constructing 2 078 toilet facilities. It also constructed four new earth dams and modernised two traditional wells, although no earth dams were rehabilitated during the financial year.The ministry’s overall budget execution rate was 70.9%, below its development execution rate of 55.5% only in the sense that the latter reflects the weaker spending performance within the development allocation. Its total expenditure included N$340.9 million in operational spending and N$321.4 million in development expenditure.The report also records a staffing gap, with 1 499 funded positions against an approved establishment of 1 895.The N$257.4 million underspend represents the difference between the ministry’s revised development budget and actual expenditure in 2025/26. The accountability report does not specify how much of the unspent allocation related to individual water infrastructure projects.

Nearly half of water ministry’s budget unspent

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-29

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Nearly half of water ministry’s budget unspent

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-29

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