The Henties Bay Municipality is formalising its informal settlement !Goas, in a bid to provide decent housing for its residents.

In an interview with Nampa on the sides of the municipality’s 5-year-strategic plan launch on Friday, the town’s mayor, Lewis Vermaak, said that the municipality wants to resettle these residents into low cost and build together housing, where they will have decent shelter.

“We want all our people to feel part of humanity as well as the economic town they are living in. People need to have a sense of pride and ownership of homes and it is our duty to uplift these people,” Vermaak noted.

The mayor added that the main part of the strategic plan is to complete housing projects which have not been completed over the allocated periods due to a lack of funds.

He said that there are currently three areas in which new extensions 7, 8 and 9 are being constructed, including one for low cost houses as well as two others, where the municipality will build houses through contractors.

“The projects are there and we would like to build the houses as quick as possible, but as we all know, money is the issue in Namibia and our town is no exception.”

The mayor stressed that one of the main issues at the town is the reluctance of residence do pay rates and taxes to municipality, which will then enable them to put it back into the town’s development.

“The municipality cannot do anything without money and we cannot just rely on the government to give us money. There are duties that should be paid by residents and if we can get all that outstanding duties from them, then we can make great changes in the town,” Vermaak emphasised.

The mayor also called on investors to invest into the town in order to develop it and create employment for the town’s residents.

“Our aim is to have a developed holiday town for both our residents and holidaymakers and we would like to assure that the town will always be the same for holidaymakers. However, we need to develop it and make it better for our residents,” the mayor said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency