John Muyamba
RUNDU – The Namibia Industrial Development Agency (NIDA)’s Rundu regional office has been without electricity for the past two months. Their water supply has also been disconnected due to unpaid debt.
Leasing tenants at their regional office facility are furious. The Rundu Town Council two weeks ago cut off the water supply to NIDA due to unpaid water, rates and taxes by the agency amounting to N$47 730.12.
“Some of us are paying NIDA for office space. We honour our monthly rental fees but we are now unable to operate effectively as we have no electricity and now water is also disconnected. Is this only happening at Rundu or at all their facilities? Because this is not fair at all,” said one tenant who preferred to be anonymous.
The NIDA office in Rundu also houses several SMEs and a private school, the University Centre for Studies in Namibia (Tucsin).
NIDA is a commercial State-owned enterprise (SOE) which resorts under the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT) and it is mandated to advance Namibia’s industrialisation agenda in line with the country’s policies and developmental strategies, such as the Growth at Home Strategy, Harambee Prosperity Plan and 5th Namibia Development Plan (NDP5).
Fernando Marungu, NIDA property officer for Rundu, confirmed the situation but referred this reporter to NIDA spokesperson Wessel Nanuseb.
Questions sent to Nanuseb who is also the senior manager of corporate services a week ago have not been answered.
– jmuyamba@nepc.com.na