Nored outages frustrate Kavango West leaders

Kavango West leaders have accused the Northern Regional Electricity Distributor (Nored) of failing to provide reliable electricity to the region despite years of complaints.

Mpungu constituency councillor Fillipus Tenga voiced this frustration during a high-level stakeholder engagement hosted by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology at Simanya village last week.

“Nored is a thorn in the flesh. We are now sick and tired of this,” Tenga said.

He said residents in the region are frustrated by constant power cuts and slow restoration of electricity when outages occur.

Tenga said telecommunications operators, including Telecom Namibia and the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), expressed concern during the meeting about electricity supply and high power costs.

The engagement was attended by minister of information and communication technology Emma Theofelus and Kavango West governor Verna Sinimbo.

Tenga called on the ministry to take the matter up with Nored.

“They must come up with a permanent solution to this problem,” he said.

He asked residents not to vandalise electricity infrastructure in the region.

“Children, especially – they are the ones involved in this bad activity. Vandalism derails economic development. We need to work together against this,” he said.

Some businesses in the region say the power cuts are affecting their operations.

Simanya River Lodge general manager Ruan Hechter at the meeting said the lodge recently installed a solar power system because of the frequent outages.

“We installed our solar system almost a month ago and we are now fully operating on solar,” he said.

Hechter said the outages have affected the lodge’s operations, including internet connectivity, and has cost the business customers.
“We are completely off-grid and we only use power from Nored as a last option,” he said.

He said the lodge has also offered land to MTC or Telecom Namibia to set up a communication tower to improve connectivity in the area.

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Olushandja Horticulture Producers Association in the Onesi constituency in Omusati region said outages also occur there, but not as frequently, and Nored usually provides notice in advance.

“It is very important that such notifications or announcements are made so they can make prior arrangements,” he said.

Nored spokesperson Simon Lukas said the utility met with the Kavango West Regional Council, NamPower and other stakeholders two weeks ago to discuss the situation.

He said Nored made a presentation at that engagement, where it acknowledged the electricity supply challenges and outlined interventions it plans to implement

“The honourable councillor is part of the leadership of the Kavango West Regional Council, and surely he is aware of this engagement,” Lukas said.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.