WINDHOEK- A total of 1300 households in two Windhoek informal settlements are expected to be electrified by end of this year.
The City of Windhoek yesterday commissioned the new Lafrenz electrical load centre, which is expected to supply electricity to the northern suburbs of the City in the Tobias Hainyeko and Moses //Garoeb constituencies.
The areas expected to be electrified are Lafrenz area and its extensions as well as Okuryangava and its extensions (Okahandja Park, Ongulumbashe, Kilimanjaro, Babylon and One Nation A&B).
During a tour to Okahandja Park and Havana informal settlements yesterday with City officials and Urban and Rural Development Minister Peya Mushelenga, workers were busy installing poles where individual cables to the houses will be drawn. The poles will also be used as streetlights.
City’s Strategic Executive for Electricity Obrien Hekandjo said in Havana informal settlement, 900 households are expected to be electrified while 400 in Okahandja Park informal settlement will also get power.
“By December, the electricity will be on,” said Hekandjo.
“We will repeat this every year and it depends on the availability of funds. The poles are being set up.
Once the cables are on the poles then we will start pulling individual cables in the houses.”
The contract value of the project was N$45 million and the project was funded through the City capital budgets during 2016 to 2019 financial years. The project started in May 2016.
Chairperson of the Electricity Council Committee and Engineering Services of the City of Windhoek Ian Subasubani said the addition of this load centre to the network will enable the City to deliver reliable electricity services to many in the informal communities and strengthen the distributing network thereby increasing the security of electricity supply to these communities.
Subasubani stated that the electricity demand growth is between one percent and three percent and have seen accelerated electricity demand growth within Windhoek’s informal residential areas and the northern industrial areas. He said the accelerated growth resulted in the CoW having to upgrade its electrical infrastructure north of Windhoek such as the Lafrenz load centre.
Subasubani added the new Lafrenz load centre has the state of the art primary and secondary equipment enabling the City to monitor and control equipment in the substation remotely from the City’s control centre.
Mushelenga added that darkness in areas of Okahandja Park, Ongulumbashe, Kilimanjaro, Babylon and One Nation will be the thing of the past. “We cannot afford to neglect these communities from the provision of electricity infrastructure. They too need to be brought on par with other residents of the City to ensure that our service delivery is not discriminatory against any member of the society.
Mushelenga added that at times, power failures or load shedding disrupts businesses operation. “This negatively impacts on the overall economic activities of the City. The addition of this electrical load centre in the network will address congestion in the City’s distribution grid network. It will allow the City to deliver electricity services to many communities and strengthen the distribution network, thereby increasing the reliability in electricity supply in the City of Windhoek,” said Mushelenga.