FROM Omaheke’s N$52 million operational budget for the 2023/2024 fiscal year, an average of N$57 000 has been allocated for each constituency development projects.
However, N$34 million or about 65% of the total budget will go towards employees’ salaries and related expenditure.
At its fourth ordinary meeting held last week, the Omaheke Regional Council passed several resolutions to be implemented in the 2023/2024 period, which also included the approval of an operational budget of N$51.9 million.
From the proposed operational budget, about N$47 million will come from the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, while the regional council is expected to generate the balance.
This will be through municipal services in the various settlement areas as well as surcharges from electricity sales by the Central North Regional Electricity Distributor (Cenored).
With more than N$34.5 million going towards personnel expenditure and N$5.7 million allocated towards utilities and about N$3.8 million towards council’s transport expenses, the seven constituencies of Omaheke are left to share a paltry N$400 000 for their various rural development programmes.
This averages around N$57 000 per constituency.
The region’s seven constituencies are Otjinene, Aminuis, Epukiro, Gobabis, Kalahari, Otjombinde and Okorukambe [formerly known as Steinhausen].
Youth unemployment
With the region already grappling with high youth unemployment and crime, the meagre allocation of N$57 000 per constituency for development programmes further projects a bleak future for the region’s jobless youth, who have been demanding jobs, the councillors said.
Omaheke has a youth population of more than 24 000. Of that number, around 10 000 are unemployed and between 16 and 35 years of age.
That alarming rate of unemployment is what triggered the regional leadership to come up with the first-of-its-kind employment creation conference in June this year.
That conference intensely discussed all things related to creating new job opportunities in the region.
The conference was attended by almost all major players in the employment sector, who shared and exchanged pertinent ideas on how the region can position itself as a job creating hub and how the youth can be empowered through various development regional strategies and policies, which will attract investors.
Projects
Among the resolutions taken last week, council also granted provisional approval to Value Development Trading (Pty) Ltd to conduct an environmental impact assessment for the construction of a fuel station at Epukiro Post on Erf 31.
“The regional council’s engineers will also determine service demand and availability and verify the proposed plot size of 6 600 square metres to be allocated for the development of proposed retail shops, private clinics and fuel station.
“Value Development Trading submitted this proposal to the Epukiro constituency development committee, which is expected to create about 270 jobs. The company plans to invest a total of N$25 million in the settlement,” reads one of the Council resolutions document.
Furthermore, a project assessment was conducted by the regional council’s division of development planning and Council approved that four projects to be funded with a total of N$337 994.
They are the Grace’s Project Farming in Okorukambe (N$80 000), Nazley Motsang/Sibusang Farming in Aminuis (N$100 000), Mbingana Trading Garden at Otjombinde (N$77 000) and Omawe-womizeme Trading CC at Epukiro (N$80 000).
“Council’s management committee directed the division of development planning to formulate concept papers and project proposals for projects that do not have funding allocated in order to seek funding for them. It was further directed that the next funding opportunity should benefit projects from constituencies that are not represented during this round of funding, namely Gobabis, Kalahari and Otjinene constituencies.
“It was also resolved that project members who were previously funded through the division of rural services should further be capacitated with skills such as bookkeeping and other business-related training to help them manage their projects well.”
– ohembapu@nepc.com.na
Caption: Salaries… About 65% of Omaheke region’s operational budget for 2023/24 will go towards employees’ salaries and related expenditures.
Photo: File