By Edgar Brandt
HENTIES BAY – Besides the 80 houses being constructed as part of the mass housing scheme in Henties Bay, the mayor of the coastal town, Aila Haufiku, says the municipality has spent about N$7 million of its own budget to eliminate existing shacks and prevent new shacks from being put up.
This intervention, said Haufiku, would ensure that Henties Bay is shack-free by next year.
“Council took a resolution last year to minimize the mushrooming of shacks in Henties Bay and I must say the council has succeeded,” said Haufiku.
She added that the council’s decision would affect families living in approximately 700 shacks in the town.
Shack owners will be relocated in phases to prefabricated houses.
Residents from the Omdel neighbourhood, where all the shacks are located, were asked to report people who built new shacks and because of this cooperation between residents and the municipality new shacks were being demolished.
According to Haufiku, interviews with people living in shacks revealed that many of them can actually afford to buy a house.
Many of the newly planned 200 prefabricated houses, which will be the new homes of the shack-dwellers, were already at roof level when New Era visited the building site last week.
The plan of action is to relocate people from the shacks into the prefabricated structures and then demolish the shacks.
Commenting on the mass housing scheme, Haufiku added that she and the council were very proud of the scheme and praised President Hifikepunye Pohamba for initiating the N$45 billion project.
“I have seen the houses being erected and they seem to be of a high quality. However, we in Henties Bay are quite eager to hear about the prices of the houses and exactly who will benefit from the massive project.
“Henties Bay is striving for development but the town still suffers from high unemployment,” said Haufiku. During June, Henties Bay hosted an investment summit that saw investors interested in mariculture and aquaculture coming from far and wide. However, Haufiku said most of the interested investors were concerned about the lack of housing in the town.
“But with the mass housing scheme the problem of housing will be solved,” said Haufiku.