WINDHOEK – The Windhoek City Council is constructing new council chambers and additional office space and upgrading its office décor for N$140 million.
This was confirmed yesterday by the corporate communications manager for the Windhoek Municipality Joshua Amukugo.
“The new building will host the new council chambers and office space; and together with upgrading of the arts and façade of the old building, etc. is expected to be completed at a cost of N$140 million,” he said.
Plans to revamp the building have been in the pipeline for some time now while construction commenced late last year.
According to sources the new building will be built on the eastern side of the existing one, which will remain open for business, adding approximately 5 000 square metres of office space.
While some people welcomed the project with open arms many are dissatisfied with the city’s decision to spend such a colossal amount on renovating a building while many people still have no access to basic services such as water and electricity.
Earlier media reports quoted Windhoek Mayor Agnes Kafula as having said: “We are challenged to continuously ensure provision of basic services to those who have no access to such services, we are mindful of the scarce (financial) resources and the high demand for municipal services.”
This was accompanied by the announcement that the city council approved an increase in tariffs, such as the 10 percent increase in water tariffs.
Total estimated expenditure for this financial year for the premier local authority in Namibia is to be N$3.4 billion for operations, N$435 million for on-going capital projects and N$132 million for new capital projects worth over N$4 billion.
The council has in the past urged residents to be patient while it looked at ways to address the issue of a lack of basic essential municipal services as well as servicing of land, as this is costly.