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Home / Decentralization to enhance project implementation
Decentralization to enhance project implementation
2013-11-25Mathias Haufiku RUNDU – With the two Kavango regions rated among the fastest growing regions in the country, the Kavango regional leadership says it will continue prioritizing service delivery and infrastructural development to ensure all its citizens are provided with services. In an exclusive interview with New Era last week on Friday, the Kavango Regional Council’s Director for Planning, Gabriel Sinimbo, offered some words of caution about keeping control from the capital Windhoek. “If you look at our records you will see that the project implementation rate for ministries such as education and works is very high because the functions are fully decentralized. As for other ministries, even though they have a presence in the region, their operations are still centralized,” stated Sinimbo. Before the Ministry of Education decentralized its functions, the implementation rates were very low, but now things have changed. Sinimbo says service delivery will be faster and cheaper if all line ministries fully decentralized their functions. Sinimbo’s comments come at a time when the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development is in the process of devising strategies to boost the implementation rate of capital projects which is said to have been relatively low over the years. “If government functions are fully decentralized, procurement processes and the adjudication of tenders will be much faster compared to when it is done at a national level,” Sinimbo told New Era. “Decentralization also boosts local economic development because decisions are taken in the region. This means that we are in a position to customize the procurement processes in order to accommodate local economic development and give an opportunity to our local entrepreneurs to participate in the processes,” he said. “There are still ministries that have no presence in the region, we are requesting them to come – if it not fully-fledged, they can even put up an information office. “Like the Ministry of Mines and Energy, there are people who are interested to know more about the country’s minerals and EPLs, but travelling to Windhoek for information is just too expensive.” Policies hampering service delivery With most villages located long distances from one another, the regional council says some government policies are hampering service delivery because some villages do not meet the required population figures to qualify for certain services. “As you know, some villages do not have enough people, and some policies say an area must have a specific number of people before a clinic, school or even a police station is built,” said Sinimbo. Of course government is looking into the matter in order to address the needs of the communities, said Sinimbo. Following the division of Kavango into two regions, Sinimbo said Nkurenkuru would soon have its own district hospital. “Provision has been made in the current financial year and the construction of the hospital will cost approximately N$19. 6 million. The construction of private wards at the Rundu State Hospital is also ongoing.” Balanced infrastructural development Asked whether there are any measures put in place to ensure that infrastructural development is done at a balanced rate in both regions, Sinimbo answered: “We cannot really say it will be balanced, maybe balanced in terms of responding to the needs for the government functions rendered. If you look at Kavango East right now, by virtue of Rundu as the regional town most government offices are in Rundu, whereby in Kavango West there are a government offices and in others there are mainly satellite offices.” He said there is a lot of pressure for similar offices to be constructed in Kavango West in order for the region to be on par with Kavango East. “Some offices are quite critical and they should be in each region, and although it will not be easy, there will be much focus in terms of providing basic offices and institutional frameworks for Kavango West,” he said. Relationship with traditional authorities With the five traditional authorities across the region responsible for the allocation of land, he said cooperation between the regional council and traditional authority is relatively good but “there are some challenges”. “We have been consulting them when it comes to putting up development projects in their jurisdiction because they play a major role when it comes to land allocation,” he said. Sinimbo was however not happy with the fact that traditional authorities allocate land in settlements without consulting the council. “Sometimes we have areas earmarked for business development, just to realize the next day that the traditional authority has allocated that land to someone, but we have been engaging them through the proper channels and we are sure these are matters that can be resolved because we have a common interest in developing the region,” he said. By Mathias Haufiku 2013-11-25Mathias Haufiku
