WINDHOEK – Illegal electricity connections which provide power to scores of residents in informal settlements pose serious risks to their lives and the supply chain to ensure that the city continues to provide power to residents at a sustainable level, City of Windhoek Public Relations Manager, Joshua Amukugo said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“Illegal electricity connection is accruing unabated in the informal areas, posing risks to the daily lives of the residents of the informal settlements,” he stressed. Amukugo condemned the trend of illegal connections as it negatively affects the revenue that the city desperately needs in order to extend much needed services to more people and to meet its repayment obligations to its main power supplier, Nampower. “The loss to the city is not only in revenue, but also in the damage to the city’s electricity infrastructure as the illegal connections lead to overloading of network equipment thereby instantly damaging the equipment and shortening their lifespan,” he said, adding that it also compromises the city’s quality of power supply in terms of the huge number of forced interruptions or blackouts as a result of system overloading.
Amukugo urged residents of informal settlements that do not yet have electricity services to be patient until their areas are connected to the power supply grid. Amukugo also announced that the city’s crematorium was back in operation and cremation services are taking place as usual. “It should be noted that the present crematorium complex was established way back in 1974 as the country’s one and only crematorium. Now the mechanical cremation plant is 40-years-old and its age is beginning to take a toll on the facility.” Amukugo said the new cremator was procured last year from a supplier in Germany and is expected to arrive in the country in May this year.
“The building work for the new crematorium building extension is currently underway. Upon completion and installation, the old one will serve as a backup and could further help alleviate cremation backlogs,” he said. Among other issues discussed was the alarming increase in land invasions in and around Windhoek. He said the city is facing a continuous proliferation of informal settlements and land invasions, particularly on the periphery of urban areas. According to him the main reason for this phenomenon is rural-urban migration, which makes services delivery and planning by the City of Windhoek very difficult.
By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa