Windhoek
Government last night dismissed views by local engineers that it will take until 2026 to complete the servicing of 200,000 plots, as reported in The Namibian yesterday.
A statement said government will do away with the cumbersome processes of land delivery – where necessary through legislative changes.
This would expedite the administrative processes of delivering land, as per directive from President Hage Geingob whose government committed itself to servicing 200,000 plots countrywide.
The move is aimed at addressing an acute shortage of serviced residential land in the country, over which the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement had threatened to mobilise mass land occupations countrywide.
AR leaders and President Geingob met a fortnight ago at State House to hammer out a roadmap towards efficient land delivery.
“It is for this reason that structures have been set up, namely a steering committee and a technical implementation committee, with membership drawn from various institutions of government (central, regional and local government) who are involved in the land delivery process, as well as the Affirmative Repositioning movement,” Nghidinua Daniel, chairperson of the Massive Urban Land Servicing Project, said.
Daniel said President Geingob has called for a radical departure from the administrative processes that for years have held up the land delivery process.
The President’s call, said Daniel, is to address bottlenecks so as to ensure that the process of delivery is expedited.
Government said the engineers quoted by The Namibian based their views on the way land delivery processes have been handled in the past, but this would no longer be business as usual.
Although the statement did not indicate a timeframe within which government intends to have serviced all 200,000 plots, it said that work was being done ‘around the clock’ to ensure swift and timeous delivery.