MARIENTAL – Mariental’s development is presently booming and the town’s future structure plan has been completed for final approval from the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development. All developments will be conducted within the framework of this plan. Mariental survived a severe flood in 2006 that left the town paralysed and led to the Namibia Insurance Association (NIA) to stop providing flood insurance to the entire Fish River Basin. This is after insurance companies paid out N$126 million in claims to residents, local government, businesses and farmers of Mariental.
Government stepped in with Cabinet making a number of resolutions aimed at avoiding a repeat of the situation and the Mariental Flood Taskforce was constituted to implement these resolutions. Key amongst the resolutions was the deepening of the Fish River between the Hardap Dam and the Maltahöhe Bridge and the removal of reeds in the riverbed. Government made N$160 million available for the first phase of the cleaning of the river. The deepening and clearing of the Fish River is to prevent future flooding. The reeds clogging the course of the Fish River repeatedly caused it to burst its banks and sweep into town. New Era’s correspondent in Mariental Hoandi !Gaeb caught up with the mayor of Mariental, Alex Kamburute to discuss the future of the town.
New Era (NE): The community consultation process of ‘Mariental’s Future Structure Plan’ has been completed. Can you explain what is the structure plan and what does the plan entail?
Alex Kamburute (AK): “It is essentially a development plan guiding the planning and setting of policies for the expansion of the town for the next 30 years. The long-term planning of the town necessitated the extension of the town boundaries. Having a proper structure plan in place will bring to an end the ad hoc town planning approach that we had for the past years.”
NE: Why is the municipality coming up with a structural plan only now, some 24 years after independence?
AK: “For the past years, the municipality has only been drafting five-year plans. The council often changed these plans whenever new councillors were elected into office. This was unsustainable and council decided to come up with a 30-year plan. In the meantime, the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development also directed that all local authorities in Namibia develop structure plans for their respective towns.”
NE: It is our understanding that according to the structure plan, development will in future take place in the eastern parts of the town, due to the flood risk in the western parts of Mariental. Can Mariental extend to the east given the muddy ground in that area?
AK: “The eastern part is ideally the best part for development, as the development and growth of the town will move away from the Fish River floodplains and the clay area. No new plots or erven will be developed on the western part of the town, west of the railway line, rightly because of the inherent flood risk in that part of the town.”
NE: The presence of the reeds was one of the causes of the flooding in the town some years back. What is the present situation regarding the clearing of reeds in the Fish River? Is the council satisfied with the progress made so far?
AK: “The first phase of the clearing, deepening and widening of the Fish River started and was completed last-year. At least something is being done and we hope that the process will continue and the targeted areas of the river earmarked for clearing, deepening and widening are all done.”
NE: Now that the Fish River has been partly cleared of reeds, do you see the re-introduction of insurance for flood damage in the areas west of the railway line?
AK: “The Mariental Flood Task Force will continue to engage the insurance companies and to keep them informed about the progress made. We are confident that once the river has been cleaned, insurance flood cover will be reintroduced.”
NE: What future developments are in the pipeline for Mariental?
AK: “Expansion of the town eastwards creates an environment in which businesses can grow and create the much need employment, servicing of more erven, provision of housing, formalization of informal settlements and development of a proper flood protection and drainage plan for the town. We are also going to investigate the possibility of building a public swimming pool in Mariental.”
NE: It is a known fact that Mariental, like any other town has a shortage of serviced erven. What is the town council doing to accommodate the government’s mass housing project?
AK: “For the past three years the municipality has been servicing erven, and we have made plots, or erven, available for the mass housing project. The process of servicing and upgrading infrastructure will continue every year.”