Govt to help out towns before they lose the plot

LOCAL Government Minister Jerry Ekandjo has announced plans to subsidise struggling local authorities to help them keep their heads above water.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Wednesday evening, Ekandjo said several towns are failing to develop and service new plots, and he has decided to step in with subsidies.’I am intending to assist some local authorities with the servicing of land in the future. Maybe, we can service 100 erven per town because servicing costs are very high and they struggle with that,’ he said.He said some towns struggle because they get no assistance from the central Government.’Otavi was a town but it is now a village. We are now thinking of demoting Karibib. We can do that with Rehoboth, Keetmanshoop or even Windhoek, but what do we get out of it? The only way to save the towns is to subsidise them and it is high time that we inject money into the local authorities,’ Ekandjo said.One of the ways in which bigger municipalities like Windhoek, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay make money is through the sale of erven at auctions.Smaller towns struggle to get good prices because of a lack of investment, he said.Ekandjo said because of the high cost of servicing erven, they become unaffordable to residents and unattractive to investors.