17 000 residents targeted for decongestion

The Swakopmund municipality is targeting to decongest a total number of 17 000 or more residents from the DRC proper informal settlement by the end of 2020.This was announced by the town’s chief executive officer Archie Benjamin during the governor’s weekly Covid-19 media briefing on Friday.There are currently 800 serviced erven in DRC which contain all bulk services such as water, sewerage reticulation and electricity.“This process commenced last month when council decided that households who live on an individual erf can now apply for access to municipal services. Council also started last year to decongest about 600 residents from the DRC proper area known as Extension 31, to an area (Extension 161) on which they could all obtain individual erven which will then be serviced,” Benjamin noted.He however explained that while trying to resettle these households, the council encountered “grassroot politics”, which led to the discontinuing of the process for the time being.“Those who have been relocated to Extension 162 where there were no services, were provided with about 15 water standpipes, mobile toilets and recently we partnered with United Nations Development Programme to provide tippy taps for every household.”Benjamin emphasised that the council’s plan is to have at least two areas serviced before December this year in order to be able to decongest DRC.CollaborationThe council, according to the CEO has also collaborated with the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development and NHE to allocate about 108 houses in the Matutura residential area while 24 are still being processed as a majority of people on the list are unable to obtain bank loans to occupy the remaining houses.The Build Together project is also one of the ways in which the council aims at ensuring residents at the town are out of shacks, and about 149 beneficiaries have already been identified to benefit from this project.“Forty houses are currently under construction in DRC while 48 will be awarded in two weeks’ time once the emergency procurement process has been completed. In addition, 48 out of the targeted 1 500 houses have also been completed in Matutura under the 40/40 project,” the CEO noted.He emphasised that beneficiaries of these houses will not need to acquire bank loans, however they will need to rent the houses from the council for at least 15 to 20 years before they can qualify for ownership. - Nampa

17 000 residents targeted for decongestion

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17 000 residents targeted for decongestion

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