NKURENKURU – There is a need for Namibian towns to develop new building models in order to preserve land, according to the mayor of Windhoek, Agnes Kafula. The new models would have to include constructing flats that occupy smaller parcels of land, while accommodating more people.
“It is high time that our upcoming towns think of another model of building flats to occupy smaller land to accommodate more people. Today, we do not have enough land in Windhoek because after independence we just continued with the system of building single houses. By the time we realized that we do not have land anymore, we were only left with mountains,” said Kafula.
The City of Windhoek signed a twinning agreement with Rundu last week, where Kafula spoke about town management and planning. “Being where you are today, we advise you to plan well and to also consider our future generations with regard to preserving land,” she said. Windhoek has just extended its municipal boundaries to accommodate a rapidly growing population and is now one of the largest cities in Africa in terms of its size geographically. “The reason why local authorities are failing to deliver services to all people is because people live in [spread out] pockets. If we have to implement the model of building upstairs flats as advised by the Windhoek mayor, I believe it will be very easy to take services to the people, because they live in close proximity to each other,” said Rundu’s Deputy Mayor Bonny Kahare.
According to him countries such as Angola and other European countries that are practising the model of building skyscraper apartments have successfully preserved their land. “We cannot say we have enough land because we have to consider those who will come after us. There is nothing wrong if people have to buy apartments instead of houses,” he said.
By Mathias Haufiku