Kavango west: Kavango West communities face ongoing water scarcity after a drilling contract for boreholes was halted in a dispute between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform and the service provider. Control Administrative Officer in the Directorate of Rural Water Supply in Kavango West, Richard Shikongo, told Nampa recently the communities had been expecting boreholes to be installed after a contract was awarded in the 2022/2023 financial year.
According to Namibia Press Agency, the contract only became effective in the 2023/24 financial year, and the service provider, Energy Afrique Investment, started drilling around February and March 2024. However, the ministry instructed the contractor to stop work at the beginning of May 2024. Shikongo said the contractor had just started work on 10 boreholes in villages such as Katjinakatji, Ntauruli, Tulimeni, Cunce, and Nomuhama when the instruction to halt work was received.
'We have received letters from constituency offices, particularly from Musese, enquiring about Nomahama, and we are constantly confronted with follow-up requests from community members,' Shikongo said. He explained that once areas are awarded under a contract, his office considers them covered and moves on to other priority sites. Only one borehole in Kavango West was successfully completed under the disputed contract, leaving nine crucial water points outstanding.
'Two years have now passed. These places were on the contract, and our hope was that the dispute would be resolved, and the areas given attention,' said Shikongo. He noted that his office has raised the matter with the ministry's directorate, calling for an urgent solution so the affected communities could be served in the current financial year.
Responding to questions from Nampa, Deputy Director of Public Relations in the ministry, Romeo Muyunda, said the ministry acknowledges concerns over the halted contract and is conducting an internal review to clarify conflicting versions of events around its closure. 'We will provide a comprehensive update once the review is concluded, since this was an internal issue,' Muyunda said, adding that the ministry remains committed to ensuring no community is left behind.
He said 12 boreholes were recently drilled in other priority areas and the Kavango West boreholes could be reprioritised and re-advertised so that a new contractor can complete the outstanding work, subject to available funds.