Caprivi in need of more development

THE slow pace of development in the Caprivi Region has been raised in the National Assembly by the Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services, Richard Kamwi.

Speaking during the Budget debate, Kamwi told the House that he failed to see why Caprivi lagged behind other regions in terms of development, saying it had a high economic potential that was not being exploited. The Deputy Minister claimed that despite allocations to the Development Budget having increased over the years, its effect on the economy was minimal.”If one looks at the allocation of the Development Budget to the 13 regions of Namibia, one asks what criteria are used to allocate these funds, and why in most cases these were not spent on those projects in that particular year,” he said.Kamwi noted that as the region with the highest HIV-AIDS prevalence, great strides were being made to combat it’s spread in the area, but he said the high unemployment rate was another major worry.”The Caprivi Region is declining.I believe that we can reverse this unacceptable situation by using the Development Budget to target certain projects that have a multiplier effect on the region’s economy,” said Kamwi.Kamwi noted the Caprivi’s potential to produce and export commodities such as sugar, maize and fish, but said that investors were not interested in exploiting these resources because of the region’s poor infrastructure.He singled out the state of the region’s road network and the unreliable and insufficient supply of electricity and water that needed improvement to turn the situation around.”My concern is not how much we have budgeted for infrastructure development in the region, but how much we have spent to start and complete these projects,” said Kamwi.He called on Government to review it’s spending patterns, saying the focus should be on regions that could contribute to the country’s economy.”Without continuous analysis and a re-allocation of resources from projects that clearly do not work to those that clearly do, I do not see how we will be able to make an impact on poverty and expand the productive capacity of our economy,” the Health Deputy Minister told fellow MPs.Kamwi said the new Development Bank should be used to channel funds allocated to capital projects to more productive projects and regions that could produce surplus foods to share with other regions.The Deputy Minister claimed that despite allocations to the Development Budget having increased over the years, its effect on the economy was minimal.”If one looks at the allocation of the Development Budget to the 13 regions of Namibia, one asks what criteria are used to allocate these funds, and why in most cases these were not spent on those projects in that particular year,” he said.Kamwi noted that as the region with the highest HIV-AIDS prevalence, great strides were being made to combat it’s spread in the area, but he said the high unemployment rate was another major worry.”The Caprivi Region is declining.I believe that we can reverse this unacceptable situation by using the Development Budget to target certain projects that have a multiplier effect on the region’s economy,” said Kamwi.Kamwi noted the Caprivi’s potential to produce and export commodities such as sugar, maize and fish, but said that investors were not interested in exploiting these resources because of the region’s poor infrastructure.He singled out the state of the region’s road network and the unreliable and insufficient supply of electricity and water that needed improvement to turn the situation around.”My concern is not how much we have budgeted for infrastructure development in the region, but how much we have spent to start and complete these projects,” said Kamwi.He called on Government to review it’s spending patterns, saying the focus should be on regions that could contribute to the country’s economy.”Without continuous analysis and a re-allocation of resources from projects that clearly do not work to those that clearly do, I do not see how we will be able to make an impact on poverty and expand the productive capacity of our economy,” the Health Deputy Minister told fellow MPs.Kamwi said the new Development Bank should be used to channel funds allocated to capital projects to more productive projects and regions that could produce surplus foods to share with other regions.