WINDHOEK: The City of Windhoek (CoW) has electrified approximately 3 515 households in the informal settlements around Windhoek over a period of five years to the tune of N.dollars 45 million.
This was said by CoW Mayor Joseph Uapingene during the official inauguration of the informal areas electrification project in Havana extensions 6 and 7 in the Samora Machel Constituency on Tuesday.
Uapingene said the houses were electrified during the previous five-year electrification plan of 2017-2022, which lapsed during the 2022/2023 financial year, with a combined capital investment of N.dollars 45 million funded by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development and Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower).
He explained that in Havana extensions 6 and 7 phase two, 105 households were electrified out of a total of 162 houses at N.dollars 4.2 million availed by the ministry. Fifty-seven houses will be completed once the appointment of an auxiliary unit rate electrical contractor is finalised by end October 2023.
“Municipal services belong to every Windhoek resident… CoW remains committed to providing basic services to our residents to ensure that all our residents enjoy quality of life and basic services, which are the foundation for further development,” he noted.
Uapingene further explained that the City council has recently approved the revised five-year electrification plan to guide the implementation of the electrification project of 4 000 households for the next five years (2023 to 2028), noting that to reach the targets CoW requires N.dollars 15 to N.dollars 20 million per year.
One of the beneficiaries, Dinineni Shanduka who has been residing in Havana since 2007, expressed gratitude for the provision of electricity, saying livelihood without electricity has been difficult.
“We have been suffering here a lot because without electricity you can’t do much. We are thankful because now we can even charge our phones, we can now use fridges, our houses have lights and as women, we can now freely walk in the streets at night,” she said.
A total of 50 street lights were also installed in the area.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency