The Omuthiya Town Council has expressed dismay that several erven allocated to individuals, companies and government have been lying idle for years.

This makes the town look untidy while hampering the allocation of serviced land for housing.

Over the years, the town council sent out reminders and notices to the owners, but still the erven are not developed. 

Close to 100 plots have been allocated and remain undeveloped at Omuthiya.

Thus, the council last week took a decision that any undeveloped erven that is found untidy will be cleared at a heavy cost.

Once the council takes up the matter by clearing the erven, an owner of a residential plot will be charged N$1 000, while for business erven, an amount of N$2 500 will be billed and for government erven, the penalty is N$3 500.

 This notice is valid for 20 working days from the date of issue (13 January 2022). 

The leadership of Omuthiya Town Council urges the respective residents of the town to always keep their erven clean by debushing at all times. In an interview with New Era this week, mayor Johannes Ndeutepo stressed Omuthiya is experiencing an acute shortage of housing, hence all plot owners, that have undeveloped erven should develop them or surrender the unused land to council.  He said most of the undeveloped land belongs to the government.

The government erven are normally registered and transferred to the works ministry for control purposes. 

“Omuthiya has a lot of undeveloped erven. As a result, undeveloped erven have grown big bushes and trees. Some are more than 10 years old and remain undeveloped. There is more land allocated to the government for the simple reason that Omuthiya is the regional capital of Oshikoto. One would expect that the government would extend its services to the people in Omuthiya but government land is lying idle for many years here without being developed,” he indicated. 

Further, he noted the town council has had several engagements with the ministry of works. “We put our views very clear to them that should they not need the land, they should reverse the transaction and give the land back to council so it’s allocated to those who need it,” he said.

Equally, he stressed that the ministry should fence off the land, adding government cannot have land which is not fenced off because it’s a risk and presents environmental health hazards.

Contacted for comment, spokesperson in the ministry of works, Julius Ngweda said the ministry will take all the necessary steps to ensure such plots are cleared.

“We will organise our people at the regional level to make sure government plots are cleared,” he assured.

On undeveloped plots, Ngweda said the government cannot develop all the plots allocated to it at the same time, but when the need arises.

“As a government, we can’t develop all the plots at the same time because people’s needs arise from time to time. We acquire plots to be used for the short, medium, and long term. For example, in Windhoek which was developed centuries ago, we still have open plots. So we develop them when the need arises,” he defended. 

Ndeutepo said the council has been inundated with complaints by residents being attacked by criminals who are hiding in the big bushes around the town.  “Some people come to town and camp under these trees in undeveloped plots. The main reason is the safety of residents and the cleanliness of the town. 

Despite the national challenge of urban serviced land delivery, Ndeutepo stated Omuthiya Town Council is working hard in ensuring that serviced land for residential and business purposes is made available. 

The leadership called on the potential investors that have ideas of projects such as a major one-stop mall, tourism establishments, private schools, medical centre, manufacturing plants, and urban agriculture, to forward their applications to the council for consideration. These are some of the key areas that the council is keen to develop.

- anakale@nepc.com.na