Urban reception areas to avert land grabbing

A National Council (NC) standing committee has proposed the creation of urban reception centres by local authorities to avert land grabbing.The proposal was made in a report tabled last week by the Standing Committee on Habitat discussing progress made on rural water supply and land servicing. The committee found that residents swooped in on certain territories and local authorities had to engage in relentless negotiation endeavours to convince squatters to vacate land. It further stated that the towns where new entrants were on the increase found it difficult to chase them away. According to the report, some of the occupied land is privately owned or earmarked for servicing by private partners.Reception areas are locations where people are temporarily settled while waiting for a place to be allocated.During the NC debate on the report, parliament member Nico Mungenga expressed concern about the proposal, questioning the impact reception areas would have in addressing the issue of informal settlements. He pointed out that a few years ago when the reception area idea was introduced, the places where it was adopted saw a mushrooming of informal settlements.“The money to create these reception area could be used to service land and have Build Together programmes targeting people in informal settlements,” he said.In response, MP Lukas Muha, who tabled the reports, said local authorities should learn from the Eenhana town council and Otjiwarongo municipality which he said were doing well in managing their reception areas.The proposal was directed to the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development.NAMPA

Urban reception areas to avert land grabbing

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Namibian Sun 2025-11-05

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Urban reception areas to avert land grabbing

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Namibian Sun 2025-11-05

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