Eenhana town soon to run out of clean water: Mwandingi

Share This Article:

Eenhana Town in the Ohangwena Region is in dire need of roughly N.dollars 100 million for a water treatment plant or face running out of clean water soon if funds are not secured.

This was said by the council’s manager for economic development and marketing, Ndawedwa Mwandingi, in a recent interview with Nampa, highlighting that the rapid population growth has put pressure on the council to provide basic services to its residents.

He said the provision of clean running water could soon be a crisis if it is not addressed, because the water ponds in the town are running dry as they no longer are able to provide for everyone.

“For a single project of water treatment we would need roughly N.dollars 100 million per year and that is quite a lot, our entire budget alone is N.dollars 82 million for this year. The oxidation ponds can no longer handle the water inflow, so we need a water treatment plant or reuse this water for other purposes, otherwise the town will run out of water in a year or two to come,” stated Mwandingi.

Council, he further said is trying to source funds through the sale of its properties and has engaged the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD) and the National Planning Commission while it has also signed cooperation agreements with international partners in Belgium as well as the City of Windhoek to help them fund some of the projects.

“We are also in talks with some European funding agencies such as the European Commission,” stated Mwandingi.

When contacted for comment, MURD Executive Director Nghidinwa Daniel said the ministry has been approached by several towns and village councils to help fund various projects, noting that in as much as the ministry wishes to see small towns developing, there are currently no funds.

Source: Namibia Press Agency