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Home / Khorixas has vehicles dating back to the 60s
Khorixas has vehicles dating back to the 60s
2018-03-20Staff Report 2 Clemans Miyanicwe Opuwo Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Khorixas, Andreas /Howoseb, yesterday paid a courtesy visit on Kunene Governor, Marius Sheya, whom he informed of the town’s ageing vehicle fleet dating back to the 1960s. “Our fleet dates back to the 1960s, a larger part of which has become redundant with only a backbone loader, front-end loader, grid loader, tipper truck, refuse removal truck, grader and hydro blast [still in service],” stated /Howoseb. Much of the fleet requires servicing, which now exceeds its asset value, therefore, making the fleet inefficient and uneconomical for its operations. Khorixas mayor Elizabeth Geises introduced /Howoseb to Sheya after which the three held a closed-door meeting at the Kunene governor’s office that lasted for about an hour. The new CEO said urgent matters the town has to address are ageing machinery, town clean up, bulk water supply for Khorixas Town Council, underground service infrastructure and a bulk water meter at the reservoir. According to /Howoseb, the local authority has a key challenge in executing its mandate of service delivery to the people defined by our inability to use our fleet. /Howoseb said so far the town has been addressing clean-up operations amid challenges. Moreover, with the inability to continue using the current fleet, an increasingly hazardous environment has become a reality for the residents, as the town slowly moves downslope in its waste management efforts. A meter from Namwater presently supports the town’s reservoirs, while ideally two bulk water meters should be situated at the reservoir in order to capture water supply accurately. “Khorixas Town Council would like to install an additional bulk meter to capture water input into our system which will help us better account for water provided to the local authority,” /Howoseb said. The town’s underground and sewerage systems are encountering frequent breakdowns due to the ageing infrastructure. “Frequent breakdown operations have to be performed in order to cope with the ageing nature of infrastructure and these amount to high operational costs for the town council and ultimately translate to poor service delivery,” /Howoseb said. Due to the rapid growth of the local population, the town’s underground and sewerage system cannot cope and this, according to /Howoseb, is unhygienic and a health risk. Governor Sheya said the meeting was informative, hopeful and optimistic. “The governor’s office welcomes him and at last our town administration has a new CEO. We must get the best out of the new CEO for the benefit of our Khorixas,” Sheya emphasised. Mayor Geises said the north-western town will now move towards development. Khorixas has been without a substantive CEO after former CEO, Nicodemus #Gaeseb’s contract was not renewed a few years ago and he received more than N$500,000 for unfair dismissal. Since then, Khorixas has been wrangling over the appointment of a new CEO. Ester /Nanus, Ralla /Gowaseb and Eben Xoagub, among others, have been in an acting capacity for about three years while the town was searching for a substantive CEO. 2018-03-20Staff Report 2
