KEETMANSHOOP – Work at the multi-billion dollar Neckartal dam project came to a standstill for several hours on Wednesday when residents of //Kharas blocked off the gates to the site.
About 400 construction workers and the project management of Salini were caught off guard as members of the community blocked the gates with cars, denying the staff entrance to the premises. The 8-hour work stoppage is estimated to have cost the company about N$700 000 in losses.
Community members who do not work for Salini, under the leadership of the Hendrik Tseib Commuinity Liason Committee (HTCLC) camped in front of the gates from two o’clock in the morning to ensure no one could go inside. When workers arrived at 06h00 they could not gain entry to the construction site and were only allowed in after 14h00 by the aggrieved community. When the buses with the Salini workers arrived they found their paths blocked.
The protestors showed their serious intents as not even ambulances were allowed inside.
Their actions follow frustrations over the slow response or lack thereof to their concerns that they raised in a petition handed to Salini management dated November 24 2014.
Their main demands are that recruitment and training be followed correctly and the process put under the care and supervision of HTCLC.
The committee also wants the current recruitment and training process to be stopped immediately and an updated data list provided to them.
They want to meet SMEs and sub-contractors from the region benefiting from the project, as well.
They are demanding the immediate removal of the human resources manager Hendrina Mukwiilongo on grounds they are dissatisfied with his attitude.
Other things demanded by the committee are free access to Salini administration offices, site visits, stakeholders’ meetings and the improvement of accommodation facilities at the site.
In response, the project manager Fabriozo Lazzarin assured the committee that their demands have been noted and a stakeholders’ meeting would be held on Friday as requested.
Lazzarin however said he was very disappointed that such a big project has lost valuable work time. “I don’t understand why they will block the entrance as we have already replied to their petition,” he said.
“It’s not good for a big project like this to stop, it needs continuity. This will cause delays and I’m not happy,” said the manager at the multi-billion project.
The police were present at the site but just as watchdogs to make sure no violence erupted and they helped with the facilitating process.
The //Kharas Regional Police Commander Commissioner Armas Shivute also arrived at the site to give a helping hand to make sure the two parties reached an amicable settlement.
A stakeholders’ meeting was agreed upon and the group only allowed the gates to be opened after 14h00.
The chairperson of the HTCLC, Ernst Jash, thanked the police for handling things in a professional way and hoped all issues would be ironed out on Friday.
“I hope everything will be resolved on Friday and if not, then we will go back to the community and seek the way forward,” he stated
The buses with workers returned to Keetmanshop before mid-day and no single production took place.
By Matheus Hamutenya