Windhoek
The first residential erven in the government’s accelerated Mass Urban Land Servicing Project are on the horizon, following an agreement signed between Windhoek Consulting Engineers (WCE) and the City of Windhoek yesterday.
The agreement stipulates that WCE will provide engineering design services for Goreangab Extension 4, a piece of land cleared by volunteers as part of the consensus reached between the Presidency and the Affirmative Repositioning Movement to accelerate access to urban land.
WCE Associate Ndishiilange Ndjoba says 338 plots will be serviced in the Goreangab Extension 4 area. WCE volunteered its engineering design and project management services at no cost.
The agreement will see WCE overseeing the tendering procedures and supervising the contractors appointed.
Minister of Urban and Rural Development Sophia Shaningwa, who was present at the signing, said once the designs are complete, WCE would draw up the tenders for the actual construction of the services, as well as the evaluation of tenders submitted by contractors.
“This is indeed a commendable show of partnership and patriotism and I wish to take this opportunity to call upon other Namibians, individuals and corporate citizens to follow suit,” she said.
Shaningwa said government is still mobilising resources towards the servicing of the envisaged 200 000 plots in Windhoek, Walvis Bay and Oshakati, as part of the pilot phase.
The Mass Urban Land Servicing Project is one of government’s measures to mitigate the housing backlog in Namibia, which is estimated at well over the 120 000 mark.
Urban and Rural Development permanent secretary Nghidinua Daniel told New Era that preliminary figures have already been established and that it is now up to WCE to come up with a costed activity plan, as well as a timeline for the project.
“Based on past experience and previous extensions we have serviced with a competent contractor on site, it should take between 14 and 16 months to service an extension with 300 to 350 plots with full specifications such as surfaced (tarred) roads, storm water, sewer, water and electrical reticulation,” Ndjoba said.
“The detailed topographical survey still needs to be carried out by a registered land surveyor to determine the exact position of the existing services and determine the exact topography of the area. With the assumption that we have all the information at hand and have finalised all technical matters with the City of Windhoek, it should take us two to three weeks to finalise the detailed designs.” Ndjoba said.
“Several processes have already been undertaken and the municipality’s project team has identified the current status of the Goreangab site,” he said, adding that the report of the technical committee would be used as guidance.
Nghidinua further said the preliminary tender documentation has been finalised: “Now we need the final design, which will enable us to finalise the tender and invite contractors. Seeing that we will not be paying for the design services, we will wait until the finance ministry finalises the mid-year budget review to see how much money will be allocated for land servicing.”