Informal settlement residents help fund upgrades

Otjiwarongo's informal settlement residents are set to receive deeds of sale for their properties as part of the area's formal upgrading initiative.

Deputy mayor Sebeteus Guiteb said residents living in the more than 4 000 units in informal settlements in Otjiwarongo have started contributing N$100 a month towards an upgrade fund.

Along with contributions from central government, 60% of the money raised goes to the fund, while 40% is earmarked to pay for the associated administrative costs.

Previously, Otjiwarongo's 8 000 formal residential account holders subsidised municipal costs linked to informal areas.

However, with the costs involved to upgrade Otjiwarongo's four major informal settlements, residents will increasingly be required to contribute.

Guiteb said residents who have long been on municipal land allocation lists will benefit from the upgrade programme.

“Some have lived for more than 30 years on that land,” he noted.

The municipality has signed memoranda of agreement with the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia, the Namibia Housing Action Group, the NHE and Development Workshop.

Management committees representing 100 households each have been established.

A 2021 study by the Namibia University of Science and Technology found that average household income in Otjiwarongo's informal settlements was N$3 500 per month. The study also found that about 22 000 people live in the town’s informal settlements out of a total population of more than 54 000.

Listen to Guiteb's call for more investment in Otjiwarongo here: q.my.na/CY5S