The Erongo Regional Council officially inaugurated its N$1,8 million Wlotzkasbaken settlement office within the Arandis constituency on Friday.
Benitha Imbamba, the chairperson of the Erongo Regional Council and Arandis constituency councillor, said Wlotzkasbaken is undergoing development in phases.
“Phases 1 and 2 have been completed,” she said, revealing that of the 145 available plots, 20 have already been sold.
“We want to accommodate all Namibians,” she said.
Imbamba said the plots’ prices range between N$350 000 and N$550 000.
She emphasised the importance of inclusivity in the town’s development plans, stating that the council is not focused on “the elites”, but aims to benefit all Namibians, including young people who are just starting their careers.
Minister of urban and rural development Erastus Uutoni said: “Our rural areas have the great potential to diversify economic activities, mainly to drive transformation and improof overall livelihoods.”
He applauded the Erongo Regional Council and local authorities for fulfilling their mandate, including making a 5% contribution to regional development.
Uutoni also expressed satisfaction with ongoing initiatives, such as the structural plan of Wlotzkasbaken and the construction of service infrastructure.
One accomplishment has been the masterplan for the provision of water to about 250 households, which is being executed in six phases, he said.
The initiatives aim to benefit not just the local community but the entire region, Uutoni said.
Two earlier phases executed during the last two financial years involved the construction of a water reservoir and a 5km pipeline from the NamWater offtake to Wlotzkasbaken.
Uutoni said the government “remained committed to continue creating an enabling environment and opportunities for our people in general”.
Various impactful interventions are in the pipeline to accelerate access to housing, sanitation and land tenure, he said.
The minister mentioned the partnership with the Swakopmund municipality and the Ministry of Works and Transport in approving building plans for Wlotzkasbaken.
An additional 470 erven have been created within the Wlotzkasbaken settlement, and a NamWater desalination plant is also under construction.
Erongo governor Neville Andre emphasised the significance of the event in the context of Wlotzkasbaken’s journey.
“This beautiful settlement holds immense potential for tourism development and angling,” he said.
The Namibian earlier this year reported that some Wlotzkasbaken residents were concerned about how the development of their settlement into a town would impact its unique character.
Founded as a holiday angling spot in the 1930s, Wlotzkasbaken developed into a settlement of unusual design and administration.
Without any fences or boundary walls, privacy is achieved only by the distance between the houses. Titles in the village were held by the regional council, and only leased to the residents.
Legal disputes that followed a few years ago about how to expand the resort without disadvantaging lessees who built houses on land they do not own resulted in the regional council selling leasing homeowners’ properties to them at market-related land value – making them owners and not lessees.
“We are not going to just bulldoze over them, we’re working together,” Imbamba said at the time.
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