OMUNGWELUME - The Omungwelume settlement in Ohangwena region is currently busy with its planning process of availing 93 residential plots to the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia.

This is part of an effort to reduce the high number of applications on the township’s database currently at 1 374 with 1 022 of the applications for residential plots alone from 2007 to 2020.
Declared a settlement in 1997, Omungwelume has grown economically with businesses and public offices setting up services in the township providing residents in and around the settlement with employable opportunities leading to the need to acquire land.

Currently, the township’s demand for plots has surpassed the supply for serviced land and the Ohangwena Regional Council has made 
provision for the creation of a new extension which will cost the council around N$5.5 million in compensation for land alone, the council has already identified six homesteads and a few areas within the township to be compensated in order to pave way for development.

The spokesperson of the Ohangwena Regional Council, Silas Nepembe, urged the settlement’s residents to desist from selling and buying land within the jurisdiction of the settlement’s boundaries without the council’s consent and urged them to be patient with the allocation process as the council is currently in the process of sourcing land for the provision of housing.

“Land will only be allocated to residents once the council has acquired funds to compensate existing homesteads earmarked to pave way for new housing development as well as additional funds to service the earmarked land for the new extension,” said Nepembe.
He added that there are currently no plots available and the delay in the allocation of land to applicants was mainly due to the lack of funds but has assured the township’s residents that the council has already started with the process of sourcing land for housing provision.