Windhoek moves to formalise informal areas and improve services

The City of Windhoek has launched a large-scale planning and formalisation process aimed at addressing the rapid expansion of informal settlements and the persistent shortage of serviced land in the capital.

The initiative follows findings from a national data collection exercise conducted by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development between 15 June and 2 July 2025, across 57 local authorities.

The exercise revealed that Namibia has 419 informal settlements, of which 150 are in Windhoek.

According to the data, about 606 435 people, representing 176 708 households, live in informal settlements nationwide, while Windhoek alone accounts for 213 234 residents across 67 077 households living in informal areas.

City officials say the rapid growth of informal settlements has created multiple socio-economic and environmental challenges.

These include inadequate sanitation and limited access to essential services such as water, sewerage and electricity.

Other concerns include environmental degradation, pollution, outbreaks of communicable diseases, and safety risks.

Township development drive

To address these issues, the municipality has launched a formalisation process involving statutory town planning, environmental management, land surveying and land registration.

The large-scale programme covers several subdivisions and is expected to yield 11 226 proposed erven once completed.

City of Windhoek CEO Moses Matyayi said the municipality is prioritising land-use planning processes to accelerate township development planning in informal areas.

“Given the informal settlement expansions in the city, it has been our imperative to tackle the first things first, which is the land use planning (township development planning) process for our informal settlements to be fast-tracked and completed in meeting the national targets and improving the livelihood of our residents," Matyayi said.

However, the planning process has faced delays due to statutory requirements.

“It emerged that one of the lengthy processes that has been an impediment to fast town development planning is the requirements for EIAs and flood studies due to the mountainous landscape, which requires flood studies for future mitigations,” Matyayi explained.

Consultants have already been appointed to conduct flood studies in areas where assessments are required before permanent structures can be recommended for settlement.

Under the current programme, 20 informal areas require EIAs before applications can be submitted to the Environmental Commissioner for approval.

“These two outstanding processes are critical to provide planned land to our residents, which is an enabler for tenure security and by extension could easily assist in expediting registration into individual land ownership in the deeds office,” Matyayi explained.

He warned that failure to complete these statutory steps could derail plans. “If this process is not completed, the Urban and Regional Planning Board… will reject our township establishment applications, which may set us back in achieving these goals,” he said.

Improved services

The municipality also plans to improve access to basic services through its universal access to electricity project.

"Hence, we will be using the draft town development plans to provide or electrify connections to households in the informal areas as part of our enabling process for access to basic services in the peri-urban areas. This process is due to start in the next month or two,” Matyayi noted.

Once the EIAs and flood studies are completed, the City will submit the township establishment applications to the Environmental Commissioner, the Urban and Regional Planning Board, the Surveyor-General, and the Deeds Registrar for further consideration.