Gobabis provides 170 serviced plots

THE Gobabis Municipality has made about 170 serviced plots available to the town’s inhabitants.

This decision comes out of fear of illegal land occupation as had been done by landless Namibians in Walvis Bay’s Tutaleni settlement and at Rehoboth recently.

It also follows a demonstration by about 300 Gobabis residents on 17 March, during which they handed over a petition to the town’s mayor, Lea Iipinge, demanding better services such as the provision of water, sewerage systems and electricity.

The Gobabis municipality’s public relations officer Frederick Ueitele told Nampa that the plots are ready for occupation.

“We are just waiting on the approval of the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development before we allocate the plots to them. ”

The plots are in the Rakutuka settlement and Independence Island, popularly known as ‘Owambo Location’ among the locals.

He said the municipality intends to service more land, but such plans have been hindered by the reluctance of some locals who refuse to relocate for such developments to take place.

“There are people who gave themselves thousands and thousands of square metres of land in the informal settlements, and we just want them to relocate so that we can develop these areas and provide roads, water and sewerage systems to formalise the settlements. ”

Ueitele said similar developments have been earmarked for the Tuerijandjera informal settlement, for which funds have been approved to service plots in that area, but had been delayed by similar obstacles.

The Tuerijandjera land has already been surveyed and proclaimed for servicing.

“The only reason they (inhabitants) have is that they want us to service the land while they are there, which is practically impossible. ”

Ueitele added that the prospect of finding a different piece of land to develop and eventually survey and proclaim as part of town planning will take another three years to complete.

“They tell us that they want compensation, but compensation for what? They must just allow the municipality to do its job, and we will make the plots available to those who can afford it, with preference to those who resided there before completion. ”