Government on Monday inked a deal with the City of Windhoek to rehabilitate and expand the water infrastructure in Groot Aub as a matter of urgency.

The water rehabilitation and extension project to be implemented for N$6.8 million, is expected to kick off within the next two weeks, to ensure residents of Groot Aub have access to clean drinking water near their households.

The agreement was reached between the ministries of urban and rural development, agriculture as well as City of Windhoek, Khomas Regional Council, NamWater and farmers in the area.

This came to light after agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni visited the settlement south of Windhoek in February to discuss the longstanding water woes and get to the bottom of the matter. 

The Groot Aub residents have been complaining about water troubles for some time, with some farmers reportedly losing over 12 000 chickens and other animals while households’ food security and hygiene have also been impacted. 

Residents of the settlement say they often experience a lack of water or a low flow. 

In a telephonic interview yesterday, Uutoni said the issue of water will soon be a thing of the past as their visit to assess the problem has now borne fruit.

“When we went there, we appointed a group of experts headed by deputy executive director of agriculture ministry Elijah Ngurare. They have made a thorough assessment of the water challenges and made several recommendations. Those recommendations stipulated that the issue be prioritised and attended to as a matter of priority,” he said. In response to the recommendations made to the two ministers, a meeting was held on Monday and the urban ministry made money available to rehabilitate the existing boreholes in the area.

“We gave funds to the City of Windhoek to attend to this matter as soon as possible. We are not sure if the money will be enough for all 46 boreholes in the area but we are starting to ensure that residents have access to water,” said Uutoni.

So far, there are 46 existing boreholes in the settlement that is privately owned, however, the minister cleared that they have engaged the owners for the boreholes to be rehabilitated so that they can distribute water to the community.

The farmers, who have been hard-hit by the city’s moratorium on drilling boreholes, the construction of structures and any other developmental activities, issued when Windhoek took over the administration of the settlement, said their farming operations are affected by the extent that they were losing thousands of dollars a day.

Uutoni said government is committed to resolving the matter.

“Therefore, for us to resolve the matter constructively, we will focus on rehabilitating what is already there and once we are done doing so, we will then ask the city to lift the moratorium,” he explained.

For the project to kick off, the City of Windhoek has been tasked to compile the action plan that will outline the costs and the number of boreholes to be rehabilitated with the money allocated.

The head of the expert committee appointed to find a collective, amicable solution, Ngurare said recommendations made needed to be actioned as soon as possible.

He, however, referred all queries to the urban ministry as they have access to the report.