Kamanjab drilling boreholes for better access to water

The Kamanjab Village Council is in the process of drilling its own boreholes to guarantee that the community and surrounding areas have enough water supply and to avoid relying on NamWater for water delivery. The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development funded the project with N.dollars 5 million last month to drill four boreholes. Shamarunga Trading Enterprises CC has been contracted for the project.

Bianca Nguaiko, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kamanjab Village Council, recently told Nampa that the project is likely to be completed around February 2024. Nguaiko said the project is intended to alleviate the water issues that inhabitants in the separate areas suffer. One of the boreholes has been completed.

The CEO stated that the project aims to address some of the root causes of the management crisis in water resource management and service delivery. He said the council intends to shift away from traditional sub-sector-based approaches to a more holistic and coordinated approach to water management that is based on a set of agreed fundamental concepts, which means that the village council will be the sole service provider (water) to its residents.
“Two more boreholes are still to be drilled during the course of this week,” she went on to say.

Furthermore, the CEO stated that once the drilling project is completed, the council will construct a new reservoir and treatment facility to provide purified water to households at a reduced rate. “New pipes need to be installed from the boreholes of the Worth solar plant to reduce overhead expenses,” she added.

The Kamanjab Village Council owes NamWater N.dollars 3.6 million as a result of the government’s order of free water services to residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nguaiko further mentioned that the council created a specific tariff that will be linked to prepaid water meters to ensure that all ultra-low-income consumers do not default and do not run out of water.

“For ultra-low earners, the card will include 5 000 litres of free water. The tariff ranges from N.dollars 75 to N.dollars 475,” she explained.

The inhabitants owe the council N.dollars 13 million, which includes N.dollars 2 million in Build Together loans and N.dollars 3 million in erven loans.

(NAMPA)
UK/PS/AS
(NAMPA)