Nkurenkuru: The Nkurenkuru Town Council says a shortage of serviced land and limited funding are slowing housing delivery and leaving many low-income residents without decent shelter.
According to Namibia Press Agency, Acting Chief Executive Officer Magana Mukuve told Nampa on Friday that Nkurenkuru has an estimated population of 10,261 people according to preliminary results of the 2023 Population and Housing Census. The town has 23 extensions, of which 17 are approved and surveyed, but only five are fully or partly serviced.
Existing housing programmes in the town include 49 units under the Mass Housing programme, 70 under the National Housing Enterprise (NHE), 419 by private developers and individuals, 233 by the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN), and 98 houses under the Build Together project, bringing the total to 869 units. Despite this, Mukuve said demand remains very high, especially among low-income households.
'We have developable land, but very limited serviced land available for immediate housing development,' he said. Mukuve emphasized that funding constraints are a major obstacle. 'We do not have adequate financial resources to service land and to compensate affected mahangu fields and structures,' he noted. Rising building material costs are also affecting Build Together loans and delaying projects.
According to Mukuve, housing projects are further delayed by slow approval of general plans for Nkurenkuru Extensions 10 and 13, and by setbacks in NHE projects at Extension 3 and Extension 6. 'NHE was given 100 plots in Extension 3 and 83 in Extension 6 at a subsidy rate, but up to now we have not received a clear timeline on when construction will start,' he said.
The council has introduced several measures, including allocating land to SDFN members, implementing Build Together housing through a revolving fund, entering a joint venture with the Development Bank of Namibia at Extension 6, and allocating erven to developers and individuals willing to build on unserviced land while awaiting services to prevent land grabbing.
Mukuve called for stronger central government support. 'Nkurenkuru was given a development budget of N.dollars 500,000 for the 2026/27 financial year. If the funding formula is not clear, some towns will remain behind,' he said, adding that investors are also reluctant to come where basic services are lacking.