2018-07-25Staff Report 2 Alvine Kapitako WINDHOEK - Councillor of the Moses Garoëb Constituency Martin David is worried that the alarming rate at which informal settlements are expanding in the country would make it difficult for communities to be provided with basic municipal services. Speaking to New Era yesterday, David said people come to the capital, Windhoek, in search of greener pastures but without having anywhere to stay. Over the years, this trend has resulted in the expansion of basic municipal services. “The rate at which people are coming to the city is alarming and there is no budget to cater for all these people because there is no serviced land. We want to have well-serviced land so that when people come to the city, they have access to basic services.” The demarcation of land in the Moses Garoëb Constituency started a few years back, he said. This is to make provision for the servicing of land in order to provide basic services. David explained that when people flocked to Windhoek, they settled on land that was not demarcated, as they just occupied any land they could find in a desperate bid to settle. Some of the areas that have thus far been demarcated include Havana Proper, Havana Extension 1 and Ituyeni. At the moment, the municipality is digging trenches in the constituency in order to place electricity boxes at individual plots, the David explained. “About 800 to 900 houses will have their own electric boxes,” said the councillor. This can be expected as early as end of the year, he said. “We want each house to have its own electricity and other basic services but this also means that people have to pay for these services.” For now, people in the Garoëb Constituency have to share public toilets as well as communal taps. This year, David constructed four toilets in the Moses Garoëb Constituency. This is thanks to donations from the people in the constituency. “I also contributed financially towards the construction of these toilets, of which each cost at least N$6 000,” explained David. He also spoke of challenges such as the bad roads in the constituency. “This makes it difficult for services such as ambulances and police to reach some areas because the roads are very bad,” said David. 2018-07-25Staff Report 2
