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Namibia: Relocation of Flood-Prone Settlements Gets Off the Ground
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
8 May 2008
Posted to the web 8 May 2008
Denver Isaacs
Windhoek
THE relocation of people displaced by floods at Oshakati is underway.
The Regional Councillor for Oshakati West, Aram Martin, told the National Council yesterday that informal settlements situated in flood-prone areas of Oshakati would soon be moved to higher ground.
Martin said the Oshana Regional Council and the Oshakati Town Council had decided to draw up short-, medium- and long-term plans for the affected areas, and had already started implementing these.
The floods in the North displaced at least 65 000 people. In the Oshakati area alone, 20 000 were left homeless.
In addition to moving residents, Martin said efforts would also be concentrated on redirecting the flow of water in the oshana in a way that it would not cause such severe flooding at Oshakati again.
"The impact of the 2008 flood is economically high and people in the informal settlements, more specifically in Oshakati, have suffered much in terms of lost property.
Business activities of small and medium enterprises have been closed, goods, products and infrastructure are damaged by the floods and workers have lost employment," he said.
Martin added that the construction of houses under the Government's Build-Together and Shack Dwellers' programmes had been interrupted, and in some cases the projects were under water.
Heavy rainfall in northern Namibia and southern Angola, which caused an above-average seasonal flood in the Cuvelai delta, was the major cause of the flooding.
The floods wiped out mahangu fields and homesteads and caused the death of thousands of livestock.
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Martin called on Government, the private sector, donor agencies and individuals to render material and financial support to the affected regions.
- The Council resumed business on Tuesday with Chairperson Asser Kapere announcing that the National Assembly had passed the Appropriation Bill (Budget document) and sent it to the House of Review for scrutiny.
The bill was read for the first time on Tuesday.
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