Namibian Sun

ADOLF KAURE - The Swakopmund municipal council recently announced its capital budget for the 2019/2020 financial year.

During his presentation, the alternate chairperson of the Swakopmund municipal council’s management committee, Kleopas Ngwena, announced that numerous projects were planned with an overall cost estimate of N$237 million.

This includes N$97 million in multiple carry-over projects from the 2018/2019 financial year and N$140 million for new capital projects planned for the 2019/2020 financial year.

“Maintaining and improving Swakopmund’s infrastructure will continue to require significant and planned investment, considering the restrained resources available in council’s investment and current accounts.

“Nevertheless, we are convinced that the anticipated property sale transactions will generate sufficient revenue, together with current existing funds, can place council in a more favourable position to finance the projects anticipated for 2019/2020 financial year,” said Ngwena.

Projects

The projects that will receive the most funding are sewerage works (N$48.9 million), public buildings (N$45.3 million) and streets (N$36.6 million).

According to Ngwena, the new sewerage plant is fully operational while continuous maintenance continues at the old plant.

In terms of public buildings, N$1.2 million was budgeted for gym equipment for the Multipurpose Centre, which will be a social contribution to the community of Swakopmund.

An amount of N$850 000 was allocated for the construction of emergency shelter for fire victims, while N$30 million will be used for construction of low cost houses.

The budget further includes funds for the planning phases of a community hall in Matutura.

“An amount of N$11.2 million is included in this budget for the resurfacing of streets and roads in Swakopmund. Council has taken up the initiative to provide the required material and local small contractors (SMEs) are being appointed to provide the required labour.

“This concept has proven itself to be more economical for the council and also establishes a business partnership between the small contractors in our community, which creates employment and contributes to poverty eradication ....

“It should be noted that the streets to be resurfaced will be prioritised by council. Council has further committed itself to future upgrading of the current stormwater systems by annually allocating funds for this re-occurring situation,” he said.

Water

Other projects that the municipal council will embark on in the 2019/2020 financial year include water services (N$26.8 million), business and market malls (N$22.7 million) and the relocation of a sewerage midblock system in Mondesa and Tamariskia (N$16.4 million).

The N$ 26.8 million made available for water related services will be used for efficient service delivery as well as for construction of a new water reservoir.

The major portion of the funds earmarked for business and market malls will be used to finish the SME Industrial Park on Erf 4864.

Ngwena further explained the relocation of the sewerage midblock system in Mondesa and Tamariskia.

“The occurrence of regular sewerage blockages in Mondesa does not reflect healthy living standards and council intends to improve this for the community in this area. The frequent occurrences are of a concern to council and therefore council wishes to continue with relocating the entire midblock sewerage system,” said Ngwena.

The other projects included in the budget are the provision of serviced land and future town planning (N$7.7 million); parks, gardens, Mole and Pier (N$11.9 million); cleansing section (N$14.8 million) and the formalisation of DRC informal settlement area (will come from central government funds).