The Namibia Insurers' Association (NIA) has said that it will not insure the town's flood area from October 1.

Mariental's Chief Executive Officer, Paul Nghiwilepo, told The Namibian that the insurance industry had not changed its stance on a decision taken at the beginning of August.

"This decision is effective October 1 2006.

Our intention is to continue to engage Government on this matter," Nghiwilepo said.

Government set up the Mariental Flood Task Force earlier to assess the situation at the town and draw up a plan to prevent flooding in future.

"Since the Mariental Flood Task Force final report will only be ready by July 2007, we are looking at measures that we would like to implement for the coming rainy season," Nghiwilepo said.

The insurance industry told the Mariental Municipality that it was unable to reconsider its decision unless something was done to ensure that floods would not happen again.

Mariental risks facing a mass exodus of home and business owners after the NIA decision not to insure buildings west of the railway line.

The NIA said it had decided not to cover any future losses resulting from flooding of properties situated downstream of the Hardap Dam and the lower Fish River.

The decision follows massive flood-associated losses of more than N$100 million in the Mariental area after heavy rains at the end of February.

The flooding at Mariental has been a contentious issue for years.

This year alone, there have been four separate floods in the area, costing the insurance industry over three times more than previous claims.

Debates have raged in the print media as to who was to blame for the flooding, but the issue remains unresolved.

Government appointed a task force to investigate the issue but its findings will only be out by July next year - by which time the town would probably have been hit by another flood.

It remains unclear why the task force is taking so long to reveal its findings.

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