Irene !hoaës
4 September 2008
Windhoek — The Khomas Regional Council's interventions submitted to the Third National Development Plan (NDP3) following the Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) are mainly geared towards uplifting and empowering residents in the region's informal settlements.
Although infrastructure in the Khomas Region is well developed, it does not extend equally to all parts of the region, especially those in the rural constituencies.
Plans include establishing eight community gardening projects in the Windhoek Rural Constituency in order to provide technical gardening skills, management skills and equipment for well-functioning gardens resulting in food security and enhancement of the well-being of the very poor people.
With the problem of people migrating to the capital from rural areas in search of job opportunities, the region is challenged with providing adequate services to all its residents.
Most people coming from rural areas reside in informal settlements with no basic services and are also unemployed and so they cannot afford these services.
Council thus intends to proactively address the issues of improved quality of life, food security, provision of clean water, improved sanitation and improved access to electricity within the next five years.
In order to further enable people to economically support themselves, Council also plans to establish a Khomas Regional Credit Guarantee Scheme for young entrepreneurs and assist them with developing solid business proposals that could be used to solicit credit for their initiatives.
A Community Development Trust in the Windhoek Rural Constituency is in the pipeline, as well as training about a thousand emerging entrepreneurs in the Samora Machel and Katutura East constituencies.
An urgent need was identified to establish three primary schools in under-serviced areas and to equip these schools with qualified teachers, proper learning materials and equipment.
Council noted that under-utilised government buildings could be rented for accommodation for students. In addition, it also plans to construct three classrooms at six disadvantaged schools.
During the beginning of this year, some learners had to be accommodated in makeshift classrooms because of lack of space at schools.
On infrastructural development, tarring the main road from the Windhoek-Rehoboth tarred road to the Groot /Aub settlement is planned to encourage increased investment and efficient service delivery to the settlement.
Thirty housing units through the Build Together Programme will be constructed in the Tobias Hainyeko, Moses //Garoeb, Samora Machel, Windhoek Rural and Khomasdal North constituencies to improve the quality of life through the provision of housing for the poor who live in informal settlements.
As is evident in many densely populated areas, the Khomas region is faced with a high crime rate, especially around Windhoek.
To address this problem, the Council has plans for a police station in Windhoek West Constituency, as well as mobile police stations at Otjomuise, Cimbebasia and Havana suburbs.
With this initiative, Council envisages to reduce crime and empower the community to assist the police. A need for an urgent establishment of holding and rehabilitation centres for juveniles has been identified, as there is no such facility in the region.
Also in the pipeline is the construction of an old-age home to improve the health and well-being of the elderly by providing a conducive living environment for those in need.
Ninety-three percent of households in the region have access to safe water and 81 percent have flush toilets.
Unlike most other regions, whose main source of income is agriculture, wages and salaries are the main source of income in Khomas at 83.3 percent, followed by 6.6 percent for business, non-farming, 3.9 percent from cash remittance, 3.2 percent from pensions, 2.3 percent from other unidentified sources and 0.8 percent from farming.
The unemployment rate stands at 27,6 percent, while HIV/AIDS prevalence among pregnant women stands at 27 percent, among the highest prevalence in the country.
Only 39,2 percent of the population residing especially in Windhoek were born in the Khomas Region.
The region accounts for 4.5 percent of the total land area of Namibia and private individuals and companies on freehold land control the majority (94.2 percent) of the region, while the rest of the land belongs to the city.
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