Rudolf Gaiseb
Otjiwarongo constituency councillor and Otjozondjupa Regional Council management committee chairperson Paulus Nekundi fervently wants to grow Otjiwarongo into an investment hub.
He intends to attract investment in the region through mining and biomass projects.
He also wants to upgrade business operations, service delivery and living conditions in the settlements in the constituency. The constituency includes the Kalkfeld settlement, which was downgraded from a village to a settlement over the decades.
It is situated halfway between Omaruru and Otjiwarongo on the national road C33 and belongs to the Omatako constituency. There are also other commercial and resettlement farms in the constituency. Nekundi wants to upgrade these settlements and particularly turn Kalkfeld and Tsumkwe into villages with village councils to ensure service provision to residents. The councillor said a development of a biomass project in the Kalkfeld settlement is underway, to not only attract investors but also help reduce youth unemployment. Moreover, Nekundi, just after his election, said nine new houses have been constructed in Kalkfeld.
“That is to enable people to be able to buy houses in Kalkfeld and create buying power. These people will be paying money for municipal services,” he noted.
“We are currently working on water reticulations in five settlements in the region, including Kalkfeld, so that we can improve [services],” he noted. Meanwhile, together with the Otjiwarongo Municipal Council, Nekundi wants to develop a truck port north of Otjiwarongo townlands by subdividing the remainder of the farm Otjiwarongo townlands No. 18 into portion A and the remainder in the Otjozondjupa region.
“It will minimise people parking anywhere or forcing them to drive to the nearest town, since this will also be a safe place for them to park,” Nekundi added. On the other hand, the roads in the town lie damaged by rain. However, China Henan International Cooperation Group (CHICO) is currently developing and rehabilitating the roads in the town.
The Road Fund Administration allocated over N$71 million to the Otjiwarongo municipality for road upgrades and rehabilitation last year.
“Most of the roads were redone by CHICO. They are now redoing it, making sure that the water is well-channelled to the stream so that it can go freely without damaging it. Also, sometimes they even delay people going to work or from work, or going to school,” he said.
Nekundi said they are also “trying” to build bridges to ease the way for pedestrians crossing water, because some years back, “we had some fatalities, whereby people were washed away by water, because the water comes from nearby mountains.”
“As we are talking now… we are trying to make sure that we put tarred roads in the informal settlement that will include DRC and New Ombili and also Old Ombili,” he said last Friday.
“These people have been struggling for a very, very long time,” he added.
Some houses in these areas are not electrified yet, but Nekundi said there are currently phases of electrifying these areas.
“In this financial year, which is going to end, they are going to cover a certain street already, because in their financial year, that money is still available to cover, to electrify the community,” he said.
Nekundi also looks to empower the youth through agriculture, entrepreneurship and sporting activities and wants to bolster youth development through vocational education institutions and the National Youth Service programmes available in the region.
-rgaiseb@nepc.com.na
