Construction of Kaisosi houses to commence August

RUNDU, 27 JUL – The construction of 307 houses by two private companies is scheduled to begin in Rundu’s Kaisosi Extension 9 area next month after a ground-breaking ceremony was held here on Thursday.
The ceremony was attended by Deputy Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Derek Klazen, Mayor of Rundu, Verna Sinimbo, Chairperson of the Kavango East Regional Council (KERC), John Thighuru and town councillors.
The construction of the 307 low-cost and medium-cost houses is a multi-million-dollar project by MPEACE Property Development (PTY) Ltd and FULLBRIGHT Investment. The companies bought virgin land from the council for this purpose.
According to the KERC, Rundu’s housing backlog currently stands at around 30 000 units.
The construction of the houses under phase one is expected to start at the end of August and will take 18 months to complete.
Klazen in the keynote address during the ceremony applauded the mayor and KERC chairperson for their efforts in trying to bring development to the town of Rundu and encouraged them to continue.
He said local authorities are struggling with finances and have to make do with the little they get from the community, noting that they are really in need of subsidisation.
“That is something the ministry is fighting to help local authorities with,” said Klazen.
He further said the bureaucratic processes which make the availability of land or acquisition of land protracted, will be a thing of the past when the urban and regional planning bill takes effect.
“We strongly believe that by having this bill in place, we can service land faster and by making land available, houses can be built faster so that families can move in for municipalities and town councils to benefit through rates and taxes and the whole economy of the town can move on,” said the deputy minister.
Sinimbo commended the investors for bringing the needed development to Rundu, especially in Kaisosi where the houses will be built, saying that there is a vision of development shared by all Namibians where people will experience the quality of life that allows them to prosper in every possible way.
“We have all been called to participate in building this vision in the action plan of the Harambee Prosperity Plan. This plan highlights social progression as a development goal and social progression which entails ensuring the availability of affordable housing to Namibian people,” she said.
(NAMPA)