N$55 million for slum upgrades

OGONE TLHAGEWINDHOEKThe City of Windhoek has allocated N$55 million of its new N$4 billion budget to its informal settlement upgrade programme, amid increasing discontent among poluplations living in those areas.Giving a breakdown of its budget, the City's financial manager, Jennifer Comalie, said expenditure would amount to N$4.3 billion, leaving it with a surplus of N$213 million.Giving a breakdown of the City's revenue sources for the financial year, N$1.8 billion is expected to be collected from electricity supply, N$885 million from water supply, N$300 million from sewerage, N$367 million from refuse collection, N$608 million from rates and taxes, N$300 million from land sales, and N$74 million from grants. ExpenditureOn the expenditure side, the City is projected to spend N$1.5 billion on staff salaries, N$1.5 billion on electricity purchases from NamPower, N$485 million on water purchases, N$216 million on repairs, N$36 million on finance costs, and other unspecified expenditure would come in at N$571 million.Outlining other expenditure items in the budget, the City will fork out N$299 million on the City Police, N$68 million on public transport services and N$105 million on its fire and ambulance services.The City will spend N$32 million on its electrification of informal settlements programme, N$3 million for the Rocky Crest cemetery and N$55 million for the informal settlement upgrade programme. Pandemic bluesThe City took a massive hit from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Comalie.“We've had numerous lockdowns; the business activity has been limited in lockdown periods. That has had an impact on the City's revenues, an almost 6% drop,” said Comalie.The pandemic also had an impact on the City's cash flow, Comalie said.Further adding to the City's woes was the increase in debtors.“We saw a significant increase in our debtors of N$170 million, money that we did not collect,” Comalie said.

N$55 million for slum upgrades

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-07-04

Please login to leave a comment

N$55 million for slum upgrades

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-07-04

Please login to leave a comment

Login