WALVIS BAY – The provision of land will remain a top priority of the Walvis Bay Council as the demand for land continues to rise sharply.
Even though the council constantly allocates a lion’s share of its budget to land development, a recent study suggested that an additional 2390 hectares is needed to satisfy residential demand for land, said the re-elected mayor of Walvis Bay Uilika Nambahu during her acceptance speech last week.
Nambahu said the recent survey highlighted the need for urgent planning and resources mobilisation and thus the demand for land receives council’s top priority, but she also stressed that the land issue should be tackled through public-private partnership initiatives.
“Council remains open to proposals through our public-private partnership initiatives that are aimed at making serviced land available to our people.
Furthermore, council will create and promote a climate conducive for small-size businesses and encourage all established businesses to support this initiative as it is the best vehicle to create the much-needed jobs, generate cash-flow for our people and enable them to afford land,” Nambahu said.
Nambahu said her 2015 mayoral term is of particular importance if viewed against the fact that 2015 is the deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as adopted by Namibia and the United Nations member states.
“These objectives include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. Most importantly to develop a global partnership for development,” she said.
Namibia’s Fourth National Development Plan (NDP4) has identified tourism, manufacturing, agriculture and logistics as some of the strategic areas.
“As a matter of fact NDP4 speaks extensively about plans to turn Namibia into a regional leader in logistics and distribution with the explicit objective that by 2017 the volume of cargo handling and rail transported cargo doubles and the port of Walvis bay becomes the preferred African west coast port and logistics corridor for southern and central African logistics operations. These developmental goals are to be addressed by respective government agencies. Such lofty visions require constant rededication from us as leaders on the local level while we rely on all key-stakeholders and partners to pull their weight in these and similar objectives,” the mayor said.
By Eveline de Klerk