Ipinge re-elected at Otjiwarongo

THE Otjiwarongo Town Council has re-elected Otto Ipinge as Mayor with Councillor Hilda Jesaja as his deputy.

The Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson of the Management committee will be elected at the next meeting on May 24. Ipinge said tangible changes had taken place in the last two years, guided by a five-year strategic plan which focused on attracting investors, effective and efficient management and enhancing the environment for tourism, mining and agricultural production.He said a number of new businesses set up shop at Otjiwarongo while some of the existing businesses had expanded.Foremost was the development of the Cheetah Cement plant.”The development of this cement plant will not only benefit the people of Otjiwarongo but the entire country and also some of our northern neighbours such as Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Relatively good progress has been made with this development.Settlers at Cleveland have been already informed that Cleveland has been earmarked for the development of the cement plant and that they will be moved to a new resettlement area,” he said.He said arrangements were underway for the relocation of the people from the Cleveland settlement while an environmental impact assessment was being conducted.”Once this study is completed and we get the go-ahead from the Government, the next phase of the development will commence,” he said.He said negotiations had started to reopen the Okandjande graphite mine.”We have no doubt that our negotiations will yield positive results and that the mine could become operational,” he told the council.Ipinge also spoke of the development of the multi-million-dollar Whale Rock Resort – an initiative by local business people – and the reopening of an expanded supermarket and car dealership in the town.At local level, he said, the council had introduced regular weekly meetings with residents, and debt recovery had improved.He said economic empowerment and job creation were two of the main challenges facing Otjiwarongo and the council was looking at a number of options for assisting small businesses.”As part of this approach, Council resolved to hold open-market days to create a trading platform for our residents.I must mention here that the first exercise in this regard was very successful and will be followed up this month,” he said.Ipinge said tangible changes had taken place in the last two years, guided by a five-year strategic plan which focused on attracting investors, effective and efficient management and enhancing the environment for tourism, mining and agricultural production.He said a number of new businesses set up shop at Otjiwarongo while some of the existing businesses had expanded.Foremost was the development of the Cheetah Cement plant.”The development of this cement plant will not only benefit the people of Otjiwarongo but the entire country and also some of our northern neighbours such as Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Relatively good progress has been made with this development.Settlers at Cleveland have been already informed that Cleveland has been earmarked for the development of the cement plant and that they will be moved to a new resettlement area,” he said.He said arrangements were underway for the relocation of the people from the Cleveland settlement while an environmental impact assessment was being conducted.”Once this study is completed and we get the go-ahead from the Government, the next phase of the development will commence,” he said.He said negotiations had started to reopen the Okandjande graphite mine.”We have no doubt that our negotiations will yield positive results and that the mine could become operational,” he told the council.Ipinge also spoke of the development of the multi-million-dollar Whale Rock Resort – an initiative by local business people – and the reopening of an expanded supermarket and car dealership in the town.At local level, he said, the council had introduced regular weekly meetings with residents, and debt recovery had improved.He said economic empowerment and job creation were two of the main challenges facing Otjiwarongo and the council was looking at a number of options for assisting small businesses.”As part of this approach, Council resolved to hold open-market days to create a trading platform for our residents.I must mention here that the first exercise in this regard was very successful and will be followed up this month,” he said.