Steven Klukowski
KEETMANSHOOP – Keetmanshoop Urban Constituency Councillor Hilma Nicanor handed over 56 toilets worth close to N$1.8 million recently to residents of Ileni formal settlement in Keetmanshoop.
In her speech, Nicanor informed residents that she was handing over to them another very important parcel of facilities, to help ease the sanitation situation in the area.
She said the residents’ sanitation situation bordered on inhumanity. The councillor, who is also the deputy minister responsible for veteran affairs, added that this handover was the third phase of her constituency providing sanitation to the community of Ileni.
“The construction of the toilets is in line with the objectives of the government’s development agenda, in particular the national strategy of the provision of sanitary services to our people,” she said
The councillor assured that this project will continue since “Keetmanshoop Urban Constituency as a subnational government institution shall continue addressing” the community’s needs. “It is not an easy thing to secure funds, including securing funds to build toilets in this manner,” she said, in explaining difficulties of completing the project. The councillor also expressed her gratitude towards the political and management cadres of //Kharas Regional Council for availing resources in order to complete this third phase of sanitation provision successfully.
In addition she thanked the Directorate of Planning and Department of Works in //Kharas Region for the role they played in ensuring that this project started well and was completed within a reasonable time.
One of the beneficiaries, elder Magrietha Pieters, could not hold her joy back when receiving her toilet.
“I am grateful for what the councillor did for me in order to feel more comfortable and no more need to go to the open field,” Pieters said.