By Nuusita Ashipala
ONGWEDIVA – Omuthiya Town Council has prioritised servicing land, as part of its efforts to develop the Oshikoto regional capital this year.
By last year, during the 2013/14/15 financial years, council dedicated itself to put up roads at four of its township extensions. However, council has envisaged the need to have all 12 extensions fully serviced in future.
Similarly, council has ventured into private partnerships to service two of its townships, Extension Six and Extension Seven.
An agreement has already been signed to create a unique central business district (CBD) at Extension Seven, while another agreement is in the pipeline to service Extension Six, which will provide 228 fully serviced erven.
Apart from servicing the land, council has also deemed it important to construct an industrial area for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), majority of which currently operate under trees.
An area, to accommodate about 40 people, has already been cleared and will be fenced off soon.
Samuel Mbango, the CEO at Omuthiya Town Council, says, “We are about to fence off the area that we have earmarked for SMEs because the majority currently operate under reserved land.”
According to Mbango, the SMEs were already consulted in 2012, hence council foresees no resistance to have them relocated.
He added that, “The SMEs would be relocated to a central point behind the current open market.”
Apart from relocating the SMEs to the designated area, council also plans to relocate and revamp the current market.
The current open market along the Omuthiya main road has become an eyesore to the Omuthiya residents, passersby as well as investors.
In addition, council is looking at rehabilitating water from its spring in Omuthiya so that it pumps water to the town for human consumption as well as for farming purposes.
Council has partnered with the University of Namibia (Unam) to conduct a feasibility study of what produce could be grown in Omuthiya.