By Petronella Sibeene WINDHOEK University of Namibia Vice-Chancellor Lazarus Angula and Khomas Regional Governor Sophia Shaningwa have appealed to the visiting Chinese delegation to consider building a student village at the institution of higher learning. Accommodation for students at the university remains critical 15 years after its inauguration. The appeal was made yesterday morning when a seven-member Chinese delegation from Hebei Province paid a courtesy call on the governor. Angula told the delegation that most students at the university hail from far-away places within and beyond the country. Because most of them do not have relatives who can provide alternative accommodation, the institution is in dire need. For this academic year, the university received about 4ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 accommodation applications, but the institution can only provide for about 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 students. “We have a big problem in terms of accommodation. The university has huge land for development and we are appealing to the delegation to take this opportunity to build hostels”, said the Vice-Chancellor. China has been assisting the university in its 15 years of existence. Help has mostly been in the areas of establishing and strengthening the faculty of science. The Governor also reiterated that her region is the centre for tertiary education for Namibia, thus young people migrate to Windhoek to further their education. She added: “It is therefore important to have a student village that will cater for the needy ones at a reasonable price to afford them a shelter during their stay at the tertiary institution”. The Chinese delegation, led by the Vice-Director Ma Fayan of the Foreign Affairs Office and accompanied by the Chinese ambassador to Namibia, Liang Yinzhu, are in the capital seeking to identify developmental areas in which Hebei Province can cooperate with the Khomas Region. His delegation comprises three representatives from the business community and the rest represent government. Shaningwa explained that the regional plan has developmental goals in economic, social, infrastructure and institutional sectors. She revealed that the two parties could further forge relations in developmental areas that are related to agriculture, trade, industry and tourism. In terms of agriculture, efforts in the next few years should be directed towards food production options. “Currently my office is facing some challenges in sustaining food security and nutrition programmes where sustainable production of agriculture commodities at regional and household levels are concerned”, she said. Other areas to be considered in this twinning initiative could be the provision of services such as a rural electrification programme, telecommunication, water, sanitation in rural areas, and urban services in the proposed formal and informal settlements. Khomas Region experiences water shortages and, according to the governor, existing water resources need to be properly understood. “The northern water pipeline to the central part of Namibia is much needed”, she said. Further, the region is also in need of additional old-age homes and hospices for the terminally ill. Shaningwa stated the need for the creation of a Governor’s Social Fund that would help vulnerable groups in the region. The Chinese head of the delegation regarded Shaningwa’s concerns as those which the two parties could further discuss. In addition, Fayan said other areas they could explore are those related to population and employment. The delegation, which arrived on Monday, went on a field trip yesterday to the Namibian dairy farm and factory before departing for the coastal towns in the Erongo Region. They return to China tomorrow.