Kalkfeld wants out of settlement status

Kalkfeld residents want the settlement to regain local-authority status, saying the community has struggled to attract businesses, create jobs and maintain basic services since it was downgraded from a village in 1996.

Kalkfeld was proclaimed a village in 1991 but was downgraded to settlement status five years later because of a lack of economic development.

Community activist Kennedy Uirab told Namibian Sun last week that the settlement has lost much of the economic activity it once had, including shops, service stations and other businesses.

“For us, maybe a mall, something like a mall,” Uirab said, pointing to the lack of commercial opportunities and jobs for young people.

He said serviced plots and government-owned buildings should be put to productive use to attract businesses and generate income for the settlement.

Uirab also questioned why Kalkfeld had remained a settlement for decades, saying residents wanted better planning, roads, streetlights, sanitation and other services.

For Uirab, the proposed upgrade is about more than changing Kalkfeld's administrative classification.

He said residents want an economic centre capable of attracting businesses, creating employment and making better use of land and existing buildings.

Kalkfeld's previous economic decline was cited as the reason for its 1996 downgrade. Nearly three decades later, residents now want the community to reverse that trajectory.

“We need a lot of things,” Uirab said. “But since then, Kalkfeld doesn't have any proper shops.”

Upgrade under consideration

Otjiwarongo constituency councillor Paulus Nekundi said the community's concerns were being addressed, maintaining that development was taking place, although financial constraints were slowing the process.

Nekundi said Kalkfeld had been identified as the first priority for upgrading settlements to local-authority status, followed by Tsumkwe.

He previously told Namibian Sun that the upgrade could take three to four years because it requires funding for land surveying and other infrastructure.

Nekundi told Namibian Sun last week that several projects in Kalkfeld, including a bakery, community garden and brickmaking initiative, are under way.

He said the settlement was also receiving infrastructure investment, including work on water, sanitation and roads.

“The only issue is the speed, because of finances,” Nekundi said.

He said this year's N$108 000 cash-for-food allocation was directed to Kalkfeld, which he described as the only area in the constituency classified as “patri-rural”.

Nekundi also said the regional council was working to address the settlement's historical water debt and was educating residents about the importance of paying for water and reporting leakages.

[email protected]