2006-02-16Staff Report 2 "By Surihe Gaomas WINDHOEK The issue of returned mail of municipal accounts that averages 28 500 per month has become a matter of concern for the City of Windhoek. At the end of the day the city council incurs high costs from returned mail, while consumers fail to receive their monthly bills, leading to the increasing number of requests for duplicate account statements. In view of this, the council plans to introduce a pilot project on home mail delivery service of municipal accounts. Explaining the latest initiative, the Manager of Corporate Communication Ndangi Katoma said at a media briefing that ""the service will enable interested residents and those residents whose mail continues to be returned by NamPost to receive their City of Windhoek accounts at their doorsteps in good time"". Katoma urged all interested residents to verify their street addresses for this service on their monthly statement. As a result, service provider Professional Repairs, currently handling the mailing of accounts, will provide home delivery service at no extra cost to the client. The pilot phase of the project will start at the end of this month, up until the end of April. Katoma explained that in order to make sure that any criminals take advantage of the new system, officials would identify themselves as employees of Professional Repairs through an identification card. ""We know that criminals can exploit every single opportunity that comes their way, therefore the officials will identify themselves through authorised cards,"" he said. So far, names of 10 000 clients have been selected randomly from the returning mail in order to facilitate the pilot project. Meanwhile, interested members of public are requested to complete a form during the pilot phase at municipal offices at Ka-tutura, Khomasdal as well as at the city centre for this service. The City of Windhoek's Pilot Project for Home Mail Delivery Service will only be fully implemented once its success and the interest level of the residents is fully determined." 2006-02-16Staff Report 2
