By Foibe N Paavo
Swakopmund 29 April– RESIDENTS of the Matutura Suburb, situated east of Ocean View and northeast of Mondesa in Swakopmund are crying foul over high transport costs as they have to pay double to go shopping and return to the location.
The residents say the absence of shopping malls in the area forces them to travel either to town or to Ocean View mall even for small necessities and this costs them a lot in taxi fares.
They would prefer to have a shopping mall near their homes to ease the burden of the high taxi fares.
Residents approached by this writer on the issue complained of the high taxi fares to and from town. Others said the area is extremely boring as it has no recreation facilities.
This forces residents to commute to other areas in search of recreation and other services.
“We have heard rumours that a shopping mall will be being built here soon, and if that is correct, it would be a very welcome initiative as we would benefit from it,” said one of the residents.
“We are suffering here because of transport costs and accessing other services since the only way for us to do shopping is to go to Ocean View Mall or town and it’s double the fare to come back,” said another resident.
“It is a problem when I only have N$10 for bread and my children need to eat before going to school. They would be forced to leave home on an empty stomach because there’s no shop nearby where I could quickly run to with my N$10. I need more than that amount to go to town and back home,” another resident complained.
